If you spend a week in Spain you will hear quedar used dozens of times a day. Two friends settle a plan: ¿quedamos a las ocho? A jumper looks great on someone: te queda genial. There are three euros left in the wallet: me quedan tres euros. Someone falls asleep on the sofa: se quedó dormido. The same verb is at the centre of all of these, and the meaning shifts with the construction.
Crucially for learners coming from Latin America or from textbook Spanish: in Spain, quedar con is the verb for "to meet up with someone." Where a Mexican might say nos vemos, an Argentinian nos juntamos, a Colombian nos encontramos, a Spaniard says quedamos. This single fact will reshape your social vocabulary as soon as you start using it.
Quedar con + person: to meet up
This is the most distinctively peninsular use of quedar, and the highest-value pattern on the page. Quedar con alguien means to arrange to meet someone, to have plans with someone. It covers everything from a coffee meet-up to a date to a business catch-up.
¿Quedamos mañana sobre las siete para tomar algo?
Shall we meet up tomorrow around seven for a drink? (informal) — the canonical peninsular phrasing for proposing a meet-up.
No puedo el viernes, he quedado con Marta para cenar.
I can't on Friday, I've got plans with Marta for dinner. — he quedado con + person + para + plan is the standard way to report plans.
¿Has quedado con alguien o vienes solo?
Are you meeting up with someone, or are you coming alone? — has quedado con = do you have plans with.
Quedar en + plan: to agree on something
A closely related construction. Quedar con takes a person; quedar en takes the plan or agreement itself.
Quedamos en vernos el sábado en la puerta del cine.
We agreed to meet on Saturday at the cinema entrance. — quedar en + infinitive = agree to do X.
Al final, ¿en qué quedamos? ¿Vamos o no vamos?
In the end, what did we agree on? Are we going or not? — ¿en qué quedamos? is a fixed question for chasing down an unsettled plan.
Quedamos en que tú traerías el vino y yo, el postre.
We agreed that you'd bring the wine and I'd bring dessert. — quedar en que + clause.
Pay attention to the preposition split: quedar con [persona] + quedar en [actividad o acuerdo]. They often appear in the same sentence: Quedé con Luis en vernos a las ocho — "I arranged with Luis to meet at eight."
Quedarle a + person: to have left
Used with an indirect object pronoun, quedar expresses what remains to a person. The structure works exactly like gustar: the thing that is left is the grammatical subject, and the person it belongs to is in the indirect object.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Me quedan diez euros. | I have ten euros left. |
| ¿Te queda café? | Do you have any coffee left? |
| Nos quedan dos días de vacaciones. | We have two days of holiday left. |
| Le quedan tres exámenes para acabar la carrera. | He has three exams left to finish his degree. |
Solo me quedan veinte euros hasta fin de mes, así que esta semana no salgo.
I've only got twenty euros left till the end of the month, so I'm not going out this week. — quedar agrees with the thing remaining (veinte euros).
¿Cuántos capítulos te quedan por leer?
How many chapters have you got left to read? — quedar + por + infinitive: the things still to be done.
No nos queda más remedio que aceptarlo.
We have no choice but to accept it. — no queda más remedio que is a fixed idiom for 'no choice but to.'
Quedar bien / mal: to look good (on you) — and to come off well
Two related but distinct meanings sit inside this pattern.
(1) Clothes, colours, haircuts — quedar bien / mal describes how something suits a person. It works with an indirect object pronoun.
Ese vestido te queda fenomenal.
That dress looks great on you. (informal) — quedar + adverb + indirect object = suits you.
Esa camisa me queda un poco grande, ¿no?
This shirt is a bit big on me, isn't it? — quedar + adjective for fit.
El pelo corto te queda mejor que el largo, sinceramente.
Short hair suits you better than long, honestly. — comparative form of the same pattern.
(2) Social impression — quedar bien / mal (no IO) describes how you come off in a situation: well-mannered, gracious, or the opposite.
Trae una botella de vino, así quedas bien con sus padres.
Bring a bottle of wine, that way you'll make a good impression on her parents. — quedar bien = make a good impression.
Si no le contesto, voy a quedar fatal.
If I don't reply to her, I'm going to look really bad. — quedar fatal = come off terribly.
The two senses are distinguished by whether there is an indirect object pronoun: me queda bien (it suits me) vs quedo bien (I look good / make a good impression).
Quedar + adjective / past participle: to end up in a state
Without a person involved, quedar can simply describe the resulting state of something or someone after an event. It is the closest peninsular cousin of "to end up" or "to be left."
El coche ha quedado destrozado tras el accidente.
The car ended up totalled after the accident. — quedar + past participle = ended up in this state.
La habitación quedó preciosa después de la reforma.
The room turned out beautiful after the refurbishment. — quedar describes the resulting state of the room.
Después de la tormenta, todo quedó cubierto de hojas.
After the storm, everything was covered in leaves. — quedar focuses on the lasting result, not the action.
Quedarse + adjective: to become / end up (about a person)
The reflexive quedarse shifts the focus to a person becoming or ending up in a state. This is one of the family of "become" verbs in Spanish (alongside ponerse, hacerse, volverse, llegar a ser).
Me quedé dormido en el sofá viendo la peli.
I fell asleep on the sofa watching the film. — quedarse dormido is the standard idiom for 'fall asleep.'
Se quedó sin trabajo en plena crisis y le costó un año encontrar otro.
He lost his job in the middle of the crisis and it took him a year to find another. — quedarse sin + noun = end up without.
Cuando se enteró, se quedó muda. No supo qué decir.
When she found out, she was speechless. She didn't know what to say. — quedarse + adjective for a temporary resulting state.
The pattern quedarse sin + noun ("to end up without X / to run out of X") is especially useful: me he quedado sin batería, se quedaron sin gasolina, te has quedado sin postre.
Me he quedado sin batería en el móvil, ¿me prestas el cargador?
My phone has run out of battery, can you lend me a charger? — quedarse sin batería is everyday.
Quedarse con: to keep, to settle on
In another use, quedarse con means to keep something — either to take it home or to mentally settle on a choice.
Quédate con el libro, ya lo he leído yo.
Keep the book, I've already read it. (informal) — quedarse con + thing = keep it.
Entre los dos pisos, yo me quedo con el del barrio antiguo.
Between the two flats, I'd go for the one in the old neighbourhood. — quedarse con as 'settle on / choose.'
Quédate con esta idea: lo importante no es el resultado, sino el proceso.
Hold on to this idea: the important thing is not the result, but the process. — figurative 'keep / hold on to.'
There is also a colloquial idiomatic use — quedarse con alguien — meaning to pull someone's leg or to be having them on: ¿Me estás quedando conmigo? — Are you having me on? This is informal and very peninsular.
Other useful fixed expressions
- Quedar en pie — to still stand (a plan); also: to be left standing (a building)
- No quedar de otra — there's no choice (colloquial alternative to no quedar más remedio)
- Quedar claro — to be clear (after explaining something)
- ¿En qué quedamos? — fixed question: "so what did we agree?"
- Quedar fenomenal / genial / fatal / hecho polvo — common adjective collocations
¿Sigue en pie lo de mañana, entonces?
So tomorrow's plan still stands, then? — quedar en pie describes a plan that hasn't been cancelled.
Que quede claro que yo no estaba de acuerdo.
Let it be clear that I didn't agree. — que quede claro is a fixed insistence.
Comparison with English
There is no single English verb that maps to quedar. The closest equivalents shift by construction:
| Construction | Closest English |
|---|---|
| quedar con | to meet up with, to have plans with |
| quedar en | to agree on / to |
| quedarle a + persona | to have left |
| quedar bien / mal (con IO) | to suit / to look on you |
| quedar bien / mal (sin IO) | to make a good / bad impression |
| quedar + adj | to end up / be left (state) |
| quedarse + adj | to become / end up (person) |
| quedarse con | to keep, to go for |
The English speaker's instinct is to reach for to be left every time, but that only covers two of the eight constructions. Learning quedar well means letting go of the search for a one-to-one English equivalent and treating each construction as its own pattern.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nos vamos a ver mañana a las ocho.
Grammatical but Latin-American-flavoured. In peninsular Spanish, vernos for a planned meet-up sounds slightly off.
✅ Quedamos mañana a las ocho.
Let's meet tomorrow at eight. — the standard peninsular phrasing.
❌ Tengo diez euros izquierdos.
Calque from English 'I have ten left.' Izquierdo means physically left (vs right) — wrong sense entirely.
✅ Me quedan diez euros.
I have ten euros left. — quedar + IO is how Spanish expresses 'left over.'
❌ Quedé con Marta en cenar mañana.
Slightly off — quedar con introduces a person, quedar en introduces the plan. Combining them in one preposition pattern doesn't work.
✅ He quedado con Marta para cenar mañana.
I have plans with Marta for dinner tomorrow. — quedar con + person + para + infinitive (or noun) is the natural combination.
❌ Ese vestido te ve bien.
Direct calque from English 'looks good on you.' Spanish does not use ver this way.
✅ Ese vestido te queda bien.
That dress suits you. — quedar bien is the fixed idiom for clothing fit and look.
❌ Me dormí en el sofá viendo la peli.
Grammatical but means 'I went to sleep in bed on the sofa,' which sounds odd for accidentally drifting off. Quedarse dormido is the natural choice.
✅ Me quedé dormido en el sofá viendo la peli.
I fell asleep on the sofa watching the film. — quedarse dormido = drift off, often unintentionally.
❌ ¿En qué nos quedamos?
The reflexive is wrong here. The fixed expression is impersonal: ¿en qué quedamos?
✅ ¿En qué quedamos? ¿Vamos o no vamos?
So what did we decide? Are we going or not? — ¿en qué quedamos? is a fixed turn of phrase.
Key Takeaways
- Quedar con + persona is the standard peninsular way to make and refer to plans with people. Adopt it and your Spanish social vocabulary jumps a level.
- Quedar en + plan / infinitive is for agreeing on the substance of the plan.
- Quedarle a + persona
- noun (works like gustar) is "to have X left."
- Quedar bien / mal with an indirect object = suits you / looks good on you; without one = comes off well / badly socially.
- Quedarse + adjective is the "become / end up" companion for people, especially in fixed idioms like quedarse dormido and quedarse sin
- noun.
- Quedarse con = keep, settle on, go for.
- There is no single English verb that captures quedar; let go of the search and treat each pattern on its own terms.
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