Trouble with QUEDAR? Learn it with CHUNKS, never forget it again (Conjugation)

¡Maura! ¡Auxilio! Estoy tratando de estudiar “quedar”, pero me quedé loca con lo complicado que es.  
(Maura! Help! I’m trying to study “quedar”, but I went crazy with how complicated it is.)

Lo sé. “Quedar” es horrible. No te preocupes, hoy me quedo contigo y lo solventamos.
(I know. “Quedar” is horrible. Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you today and we’ll work it out.)

I honestly think quedar is the craziest verb I’ve covered so far. It has too many definitions, it’s irregular and it can be reflexive!

But, us being us, we only care about you being able to go out and use this as soon as possible. Para ello (For that purpose), we’ll focus on its most common conjugations and uses. ¿Estás conmigo? (Are you with me?) ¡Empecemos!

1. “Quedar” con Yo (”Quedar” with I)

Después de esto, no me quedan ganas de estudiar más verbos.  
(After this, I don’t have any desire to study more verbs.)

Es comprensible, pero me quedo más tranquila si conversamos un par de cosas al respect.
(It’s understandable, but I’ll remain calmer if we discuss a couple of things about it.)

Two very common things quedar can do is talk about things that are left and things that remain or stay. So:

• No me quedan ganas (I don’t have any desire left): no motivation or will left.
• Me quedo más tranquila (I’ll remain more calm): I’ll remain or stay in a calmer state.

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Let’s go through more examples for each. Things that are left:

• Me quedan tres galletas, ¿quieres una? (I have three cookies left, do you want one?)
• No sé si llego a tiempo porque aún me quedan diez páginas por estudiar. (I don’t know if I will be on time because I still have 10 pages left to study.)
• ¡Estoy demasiado ocupada! No me queda tiempo ni para pensar. (I’m too busy! I don’t even have any time left to think.)

To stay or to remain:

• ¿Me puedo quedar contigo? (Can I stay with you?)
• Estoy tan emocionada que no me quedo quieta ni un segundo (I’m so excited that I don’t remain still for a second.): this is a good example of why we think about it as “to remain” or “to stay”. Though it can serve as the verb to stay at someone’s house, for example, it can also mean to remain in a state. In this case, remaining still.
• Ayer me quedé sola todo el día. (Yesterday, I stayed alone all day.): me quedé is a very useful chunk to talk about where or with whom you stayed.

Chunk Alert!

If time wasn’t an important factor, we would have ten Chunk Alerts in this video alone, but, for now, let’s cover how to use: no me queda. You can say: No me queda tiempo ni para pensar. (I don’t have any time, not even to think.) Or substitute “tiempo” (time) with something else of which you don’t have any left, like:

• No me queda energía.  (I don’t have any energy left.)
• No me quedan ganas. (I don’t have any desire left.)

Also, no me queda, by itself, will mostly refer to a piece of clothing that doesn’t fit. Pero ya repasaremos ese uso más adelante. (But we’ll go over that use later on.)

2. “Quedar” con Tú (”Quedar” with You)

¡Genial, gracias! Por cierto, te quedan bellos esos zarcillos.    
(Great, thank you! By the way, those earrings look beautiful on you.)

¡Gracias! Te quedas loca si te digo cuánto me costaron. ¡Fueron una súper inversión!
(Thank you! You’ll go crazy if I tell you how much they cost me. They were a super investment!.)

Another thing we tend to do with quedar is talking about how something fits or looks on someone, so:

• Te quedan bellos esos zarcillos. (Those earrings look beautiful on you.)

Also, to talk about becoming or transforming into a different state. So:

• Te quedas loca. (You’ll go crazy.): this would essentially mean, you will turn or go crazy.

More examples for how things look or fit:

• Esa chaqueta ya no te queda. ¡Dónala! (That jacket doesn’t fit you anymore. Donate it!)
• Ojalá te quedara mi ropa, así podría prestarte algo para la fiesta. (I wish my clothes fit you, so I could lend you something for the party.)
• Esos zapatos te quedan perfecto con los pantalones nuevos. (Those shoes look perfect with your new pants.)

More examples for becoming or transforming:

• Te vas a quedar fría si te cuento lo que me pasó. (You’ll go cold if I tell you what happened to me.): we tend to use temperature to mean emotional states. In this case, you’ll be so shocked your body will feel cold.
• Es que hablas con él y te quedas hirviendo de la rabia. ¡Es demasiado grosero! (You talk to him and become boiling with rage. He’s too rude!): see? it works with heat too.
• ¡Qué locura! Me imagino que te quedaste en shock. (How crazy! I imagine you went into shock.)

3. “Quedar” con Él, Ella, Usted, Eso (”Quedar” with He, She, Formal You, It)

Before I forget, we’ll continue to check uses along with the conjugations. But, at the end, we’ll do a little summary of these uses which, on average, account for 80% of what this verb is used for on a daily basis.

¿Dónde los compraste?  
(Where did you buy them?)

En una tienda que queda cerca de tu trabajo, de hecho.
(In a store that is close to your work, in fact.)

Voy a pasar. ¡Maura! ¿Este humus lo hizo Victoria? ¡Le quedó buenísimo!
(I’ll stop by. Maura! Did Victoria make this hummus? It turned out great!)

Alright, something else we do quite a lot with quedar is talking about location, so:

• Una tienda que queda cerca de tu trabajo. (A store that is close to your work.)

Honestly, isn’t this verb insane? If you haven’t had enough, we also use it to talk about results, how things turn out. So:

• Le quedó buenísimo. (It turned out great.): in this case, talking about the hummus.

More examples with location could be:

• El supermercado queda lejísimos. (The supermarket is very far away.)
• El parque queda a la vuelta de la esquina. (The park is just around the corner.)
• Mi dentista queda en el centro. (My dentist is downtown.)

For more examples with results or how something turns out, we have:

• Las fotos le quedaron bellísimas. (The photos turned out beautifully.)
• Esta decoración quedó perfecta. (This decoration turned out perfect.)
• La salsa está quedando picante. (The sauce is turning out spicy.)

4. “Quedar” con Nosotros, Nosotras (”Quedar” with We)

¡Sí! Su receta es lo máximo. El otro día lo llevamos a casa de unos amigos y quedamos como unas chefs. Nadie se creía que lo habíamos hecho nosotras.
(Yes, her recipe is the best. The other day we took it to a friend’s house and we looked like chefs. No one believed that we had made it ourselves.)

¡No lo dudo! Compártemela y así también quedo bien con la gente cuando vengan a casa.
(I don’t doubt it! Share it with me so I also look good in front of people when they come to the house.)

The last use we’ll cover, though we’ll continue to check examples for all of them, is to talk about how someone seems, looks or comes across. In this case: quedamos como unas chefs. More examples could be:

• Si llegamos tarde quedamos mal con todo el mundo. ¡Apúrate! (If we’re late, we’ll look bad in front of everyone. Hurry up!)
• Hay cierta gente con la que tenemos que quedar bien. (There are certain people we have to look good to.): quedar bien (to look good) or quedar mal (to look bad) are not about looks as much as they are about reputation.
• La presentación nos quedó genial, quedamos súper bien con todo el equipo. (The presentation turned out great, we looked superb with the whole team.): in this example you can even find another “quedar” we covered before. Nos quedó genial (It came out great) talks about how something turned out.

5. Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas se quedan

¡Seguro! ¿Sabes si las chicas se van a quedar en Madrid este fin de semana?
(Sure! Do you know if the girls are staying in Madrid this weekend?)

Les pregunté, pero se quedaron calladas y no me dijeron nada concreto. Yo creo que están planeando algo sorpresa.
(I asked them, but they remained silent and didn’t tell me anything concrete. I think they are planning a surprise.)

The two examples in the dialogue correspond to the same use of quedar, which should tell you how common it is to use quedar to mean to remain or to stay. Even more examples for this use could be:

• Si ustedes se quedan más tiempo, nosotras también. (If you stay longer, so will we.)
• Ellos se quedaron despiertos hasta muy tarde. (They stayed up very late.)

6. La tabla (The table)

Now for that little table you’re only supposed to use as a guide. Take into account that with “quedar” you do have three different options per person, or pronoun, depending on what you’re talking about. Check it out in the table:

Summary

Let’s review all of the uses we covered in this video with some examples:

• “Quedar” for things that are left:
  • Queda una cerveza, ¿quién la quiere? (There is one beer left, who wants it?)
• “Quedar” to mean stay or remain:
  • Quedamos como amigos. (We remain friends.)
• “Quedar” for how something fits or looks:
  • ¡Ese color de cabello te queda precioso! (That hair color looks beautiful on you!)
• “Quedar” for transforming or turning:
  • Se quedaron dormidos de inmediato. (They fell asleep immediately.)
• “Quedar” for locations:
  • Puedes ir caminando, no queda tan lejos. (You can walk there, it’s not that far.)
• “Quedar” for results or how something turns out:
  • Esta torta me quedó deliciosa. (This cake turned out delicious.)
• “Quedar” for how someone seems or comes across:
  • Quedó como un imbécil después de insultar a la mesonera. (He looked like a jerk after insulting the waitress.

I bet this was a lot of information but, as always, trust the chunks, adapt them and use them confidently knowing they’ll be right because you’ve heard them like that before!