Quedar en, Quedar por, Quedar + Participle

The verb quedar is one of the most versatile in Spanish. Beyond its basic meaning of "to remain" or "to be left", it participates in three distinct periphrastic constructions that express agreement, incompletion, and resultative states. Each one uses a different complement — en + infinitive, por + infinitive, or past participle — and each one means something entirely different.

Mastering these three constructions gives you access to ideas that are otherwise clumsy to express. Where English needs several different phrases ("we agreed to", "it remains to be", "it ended up broken"), Spanish handles all of them with the same root verb.

1. Quedar en + infinitive: agreeing to do something

Quedar en + infinitive means to agree, arrange, or settle on doing something. It describes the outcome of a conversation or negotiation — what the parties decided to do.

This construction implies a mutual or at least stated commitment. It is not just about planning — it signals that an explicit agreement was reached.

Quedar en + que + clause

When the agreement involves a more complex arrangement, you can use quedar en que followed by a conjugated verb:

Tenses for quedar en

This construction works in all past tenses and the present:

2. Quedar por + infinitive: what remains to be done

Quedar por + infinitive expresses that something still needs to be done — it has not been completed yet. The action is pending.

This construction is impersonal in feel — it focuses on the task, not on who will do it. The subject is typically the thing that needs to be done, not a person.

Agreement with the subject

Because the subject of quedar por is the pending task, the verb agrees with it:

Quedar por vs. faltar por

Both express pending tasks, but with slightly different nuances:

In practice, they are largely interchangeable, but quedar por is slightly more formal and faltar por slightly more colloquial.

3. Quedar + past participle: resultative states

Quedar + past participle describes the state that results from an action or event. Something happened, and now the subject is left in a particular condition. The participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.

This construction emphasizes the resulting state rather than the action that caused it. It answers the question "what condition was the subject left in?" rather than "what happened?"

Common quedar + participle combinations

Some of the most frequent pairings:

• quedar claro — Quedó claro que no iba a funcionar. (It became clear that it wasn't going to work.)
• quedar satisfecho — Quedamos satisfechos con el resultado. (We were left satisfied with the result.)
• quedar sorprendido — Quedó sorprendida con la noticia. (She was taken aback by the news.)
• quedar establecido — Quedó establecido el nuevo horario. (The new schedule was established.)
• quedar demostrado — Quedó demostrado que tenía razón. (It was shown / proven that she was right.)
• quedar prohibido — Quedó prohibido fumar en espacios públicos. (Smoking in public spaces ended up being banned.)

Quedar vs. quedarse

A crucial distinction. Quedar (without se) is used in all three constructions above. Quedarse (reflexive) means "to stay" or "to remain" in a place or state, often by choice or by surprise:

Note that quedarse + adjective/participle describes a change of state that the subject experiences, often involuntarily: se quedó dormido (he fell asleep), se quedó ciego (he went blind), se quedó sin trabajo (he was left without work).

Common mistakes

Using quedar en for unilateral plans. Quedar en implies an agreement between parties. If you decided something on your own, use decidir or pensar: Decidí ir al cine, not Quedé en ir al cine (unless you agreed with someone else to go).

Forgetting participle agreement with quedar + participle. The participle must agree with the subject: La puerta quedó abiertA, Los problemas quedaron resueltOS. This is the same agreement rule as with estar + participle.

Mixing up quedar por with quedar en. Quedamos en hacer la tarea means "we agreed to do the homework". Queda por hacer la tarea means "the homework remains to be done". The preposition changes the meaning completely.

Confusing quedar + participle with estar + participle. La silla está rota describes its current state with no emphasis on how it got there. La silla quedó rota implies something happened that resulted in it being broken — the transition into the state is part of the meaning.

Summary of the three constructions

For stopping an action, see dejar de + infinitive. For repeating an action, see volver a + infinitive. For passive constructions with se, see passive se.