You're standing at a crowded bar in Madrid, or maybe a quiet cafe in Mexico City. You want to say you're leaving. You reach into your mental filing cabinet and pull out the first thing you learned in high school Spanish. Stop. If you just say "yo dejo," people are going to look at you like you've forgotten how to finish a sentence. To leave in Spanish isn't a one-size-fits-all situation. It's a linguistic minefield where the wrong verb choice changes you from a person exiting a room to someone abandoning their firstborn child or accidentally forgetting their keys on a table.
Language isn't a math equation. It's about context. Honestly, most English speakers struggle with this because "leave" is a Swiss Army knife word in English. We leave a party, we leave our phone at home, and we leave our partners. In Spanish? Those are three entirely different universes.
The Big Two: Salir vs. Irse
If you want to master how to say to leave in Spanish, you have to start with the heavy hitters: salir and irse. This is where most students trip up.
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Salir is about the physical act of exiting. Think of it like a door. If you are inside and then you are outside, you salieron. It’s often used with the preposition de. For example, Salgo de la oficina a las cinco (I leave the office at five). It's functional. It's simple.
Then there’s irse. This is the "get out of dodge" verb. It’s the reflexive form of ir (to go). When you use irse, the focus isn't on the door you're walking through; it's on the fact that you are departing. You're heading away. If you're at a boring party and you whisper to your friend, "Me voy," you're saying "I'm outta here."
Here is a weird nuance: if you say "Voy," you're saying "I'm coming" or "I'm going (to a place)." But "Me voy" means "I'm leaving." That little "me" changes everything. It’s the difference between moving toward something and moving away from where you currently are.
When You Forget Your Keys: Dejar vs. Olvidar
Now, let's talk about stuff. Physical objects. You didn't "exit" your umbrella; you left it.
This is where dejar comes in. It's the verb for "to leave something behind" or "to let."
- Dejé las llaves en la mesa (I left the keys on the table).
- Déjame en paz (Leave me alone—literally "leave me in peace").
But wait. There’s a catch. If you left your keys because you’re a scatterbrain, you might use olvidar (to forget). Native speakers often use the accidental se construction here: Se me olvidaron las llaves. It’s a way of saying "The keys forgot themselves to me," which basically shifts the blame off you. It’s a very Spanish way of looking at the world. Things happen to you; you don't always do them.
Dejar also covers the concept of "leaving" a person in a relationship context. If you break up with someone, you lo dejaste or la dejaste. Using salir here would just mean you went out for tacos and came back. Context is king.
The Professional Departure: Abandonar and Renunciar
What about your job? You don't usually "leave" a job in Spanish using salir unless you’re literally walking out the building at the end of the shift.
If you're quitting, you renuncias.
Renuncié a mi trabajo.
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If you're leaving a position or a project in a more permanent, sometimes dramatic way, you might use abandonar. But be careful. Abandonar carries a heavy weight. It sounds like a captain leaving a sinking ship or a parent leaving a child. It’s "to abandon." Use it for your Netflix subscription, sure, but maybe not for a casual "I'm leaving this conversation."
Regional Flavors and Slang
If you’re in Argentina, you might hear partir. It sounds a bit more formal or poetic in most of the Spanish-speaking world, like "departing" on a long journey, but in some contexts, it's just a standard way to signal a move.
Then there’s the slang. In some places, people will say picar or arrancar. Arrancamos? (Are we leaving/starting the car?). It’s colorful. It’s what makes the language feel alive. You won’t find "to leave in Spanish" translated as picar in a standard textbook, but you’ll hear it on the streets of Medellin.
Staying or Leaving? The Stay-Behind Nuance
Sometimes, "to leave" is actually about what stays. Look at the verb quedar.
Wait, doesn't quedar mean "to stay"?
Yes.
But it also means "to be left."
Solo queda un trozo de pastel (Only one piece of cake is left).
Understanding the relationship between dejar (the action of leaving something) and quedar (the state of being left) is the "Aha!" moment for many learners. If you dejas the tip on the table, the tip queda on the table.
Common Mistakes That Make Natives Cringe
The most frequent error is using dejar when you mean you're going home.
"Voy a dejar ahora" is gibberish. You're leaving... what? Your soul? Your luggage?
If you mean "I'm leaving now," it's "Me voy ahora."
Another one is the confusion between salir and irse in social settings.
If you say "Salgo con Juan," you’re telling people you’re dating Juan.
If you say "Me voy con Juan," you’re just saying you’re leaving the current location in Juan’s company.
Small change. Huge social implications.
Mastery Through Real-World Scenarios
Let's look at how this actually plays out.
Imagine you are at a hotel. You need to leave in Spanish—specifically, you're checking out. You don't "leave" the hotel using dejar. You haces el check-out (Spanglish is real) or you dejas la habitación (you leave/vacate the room).
What if you're on a bus? You want to get off. You don't "leave" the bus. You te bajas.
Me bajo en la próxima parada. If you said "Salgo del bus," people would understand, but it sounds a bit like you’re narrating a movie scene where you’re exiting a vehicle. Bajarse is the natural, everyday choice.
The Philosophical Leave: Partir and Morir
Sometimes leaving is final. Partir is the go-to for a "departure" into the afterlife or a permanent move to another country. It has a sense of gravity. You wouldn't use it for going to the grocery store. Unless you're being incredibly dramatic, which, to be fair, is also very Spanish.
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Actionable Steps for Your Vocabulary
If you're trying to figure out which "leave" to use right now, follow this simple logic path. It's not a perfect rule, but it'll save you 90% of the time.
- Are you leaving a place? Use irse (reflexive). Me voy.
- Are you exiting a specific building/room? Use salir. Salgo del cine.
- Did you leave an object somewhere? Use dejar. Dejé el libro.
- Are you quitting something? Use renunciar (job) or dejar (habit). Dejé de fumar.
- Are you leaving a person/relationship? Use dejar. Ella lo dejó.
To truly internalize these, stop translating "leave" in your head. Start associating the Spanish word with the action. Visualize the door for salir. Visualize the movement away for irse. Visualize the hand letting go of an object for dejar.
Language is about muscle memory. The more you use me voy when you stand up from your desk, the less you'll have to think about the grammar behind it. Spanish is a language of motion and emotion. Pick the verb that matches your movement, and you'll sound a lot less like a textbook and a lot more like a local.
Start by choosing one scenario today—maybe leaving your house or leaving a comment—and consciously pick the specific Spanish verb that fits. Don't just settle for the first word that pops up in a dictionary. Think about the "why" behind the exit.