Quedar vs Quedarse in Spanish: 8 Use Cases With Spanish Dialogue Examples

Quedar vs quedarse is one of those pairs of verbs where the reflexive form is its own world.

“Quedarse” doesn’t express the same thing nor is it conjugated the same as the “quedar” version.

Let’s see what happens and how these two very similar but different verbs behave.

Spring Spanish teacher Maura will tell you everything you have to know about quedar vs quedarse:

1. What does “quedar” do?

Let’s separate the meaning of “quedar” into 5 categories.

Here’s the first one:

Agreements

“Quedar” is used to arrange appointments, meetings, times, and locations. For example:

• “Quedamos en vernos en la plaza más tarde.” (We agreed to meet at the square later.)
• “¿Te parece si quedamos a las 5 pm entonces?” (Do you think we should meet at 5 pm then?)
• “Mauricio quedó en que me llamaba hoy, pero no me ha llamado aún.” (Mauricio said he’d call me today, but he hasn’t called me yet.)

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Now let’s see what else “quedar” does.

When something is missing

It indicates what’s left over or what’s missing.

In other words, “what’s left”. Example:

• “Ya recogí la cocina. ¿Qué queda por hacer?” (I’ve picked up the kitchen. What’s left to do?)
• “No quedó nada de torta después de la fiesta.” (There was no cake left after the party.)
• “¿Cuánto tiempo queda para llegar?” (How much time is left to get there?)

When something fits

How something fits or looks on someone. Especially with clothes. That is, “how something fits”. Like:

• “Esta camisa ya no me queda.” (This shirt doesn’t fit me anymore.)
• “A mí me gusta cómo te queda el color azul.” (I like the way the color blue looks on you.)
• “¿Esto me queda bien o me queda raro?” (Does this look good on me or does it look weird?)

Don’t let “quedarle algo a alguien” confuse you.

Here we don’t have to use the reflexive pronouns used with “quedarse”. But we do have to use another type of pronoun: direct object pronouns.

That is:

• me queda,
• te queda,
• le queda,
• nos queda,
• les queda.

Look good or bad to someone

To look good or bad to someone.

It’s about fulfilling your responsibility and/or commitment. In other words, “look good or bad to someone”.

For example:

• “Yo no confío en él, siempre nos queda mal.” (I don’t trust him, he always lets us down.)
• “Es muy importante quedar bien con la gente del trabajo.” (It’s very important to make a good impression with people at work.)
• “Si llegamos tarde, vamos a quedar mal, apúrate.” (If we are late, we will look bad, hurry up.)

When you’re talking about results

Results. This is about how projects, competitions, etc., turn out or end up.

Examples:

• “Me encanta como te quedó este dibujo.” (I love how this drawing turned out for you.)
• “¿Cómo quedó el partido? ¿Quién ganó?” (How did the match end? Who won?)
• “El proyecto quedó tan bien que lo seleccionaron para el festival.” (The project turned out so well that it was selected for the festival.)

2. What does “quedarse” do?

“Quedarse” is a bit shorter. We can summarize it in 3 categories.

First category:

Staying in a place

For example:

• “Anoche nos quedamos en un hotel precioso.” (Last night we stayed in a beautiful hotel.)
• “¿Te quieres quedar aquí hoy? Es tarde.” (Do you want to stay here today? It’s late.)
• “Cuando vengan a visitarnos, se quedan con nosotros.” (When they come to visit us, they stay with us.)

Stay with us until the end to practice all this a bit in a dialogue with Carla.

Keeping something

Examples:

• “Tú te quedaste con mi libro de Rushdie, ¿verdad?” (You kept my Rushdie book, right?)
• “¿Me puedo quedar con tu chaqueta?” (Can I keep your jacket?)
• “Prefiero quedarme con los buenos recuerdos.” (I’d rather keep the good memories.)

Remaining in an emotional or physical reaction

“Remain in a physical or emotional state”.

Like:

• “Me quedé dormida a mitad de la película.” (I fell asleep halfway through the movie.)
• “Nos quedamos locos con la noticia.” (We went crazy with the news)
• “Yo me disculpé y me despedí, pero ella se quedó molesta.” (I apologized and said goodbye, but she remained upset.)

3. Comparison of quedar vs quedarse in Spanish

The main comparison is the use of the reflexive pronoun used by “quedarse“.

So let’s first look at the conjugations of both. It’s the same, but we add the pronoun to “quedarse“.

The only time this can be confusing is when we use “quedar” to talk about clothes, colors, appearance.

Because we will need a direct object pronoun, that is:

• me,
• te,
• nos, etc.

And these can be confused with the reflexive pronouns used by “quedarse”.

For example:

• “Ese corte de cabello te queda muy bien.” (That haircut looks great on you.)

To avoid confusion, take a look at the direct object pronouns that accompany “quedar” so you can see that it’s not the same as the reflexive pronouns used by “quedarse”. Look at the examples with “quedar” when it uses direct object pronouns:

4. Practice quedar vs. quedarse in Spanish

We’ll give you options in the dialogue and you complete.

Let’s see: