Spanish word of the week: quedarse

This week’s Spanish word of the week is quedarse.

quedarse REFLEXIVE VERB to stay, to remain; to keep; to take

Quedarse is a very commonly used verb which it’s useful to get to know. Its main meaning is to stay:

Ve tú, yo me quedo aquí. You go, I’ll stay here.

 Anoche me quedé en casa. Last night I stayed at home.

Apart from meaning ‘staying put’ in one place, it’s also the word you need to talk about where you stay while you’re on holiday, or travelling:

Se quedaron en la casa de unos amigos. They stayed with some friends.

Me quedo en Buenos Aires unos cinco días. I’m staying in Buenos Aires for about five days.

Quedarse also means to keep in several contexts:

Ya no lo necesito, quédatelo tú. I don’t need it any more, you keep it.

You also use quedarse with con before the thing that you keep:

Cuando nos separamos, me quedé con la casa. When we split up I kept the house.

And if you want to tell someone to keep the change, the phrase is ¡Quédese con la vuelta!

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!