How to Say "Get Out of the Way" in Spanish

quítate de en medio

/kitate de en medjo/from spelling rules

In Spanish, "get out of the way" is translated as quítate de en medio.

This phrase is a command used to tell someone to move so that they are no longer blocking a path.

Which one should you use?

You may also encounter ¡Aparta! or ¡Hazte a un lado! in informal settings, both of which serve to tell someone to move or get out of the way.

In Spain, quítate de en medio is an informal expression used to ask someone to get out of the way.

To change the command from informal to polite, change the reflexive pronoun and the verb ending from the informal quítate to the formal quítese.

The word medio in this phrase is a direct loan from Latin because the original evolved Spanish form sounded too much like the verb mear, which means 'to piss'.
In many Spanish-speaking cultures, shouting ¡Quítate! without adding de en medio can sound significantly more aggressive or impatient than the full phrase.
In some contexts, the word en medio can also be used to describe being in the middle of a process or a state of being, not just a physical location.

Quítate de en medio.
Get out of the way.
The sentence is useful for practicing the command quítate de en medio.
Tatoeba #1293744 by enteka, translation #1294037 by CK
¡Hazte a un lado! Necesito pasar rápidamente.
Move aside! I need to pass quickly.
¡Quítate de en medio, que no puedo pasar!
Get out of the way, I can't pass through!

Mateo is blocking the hallway while looking at his phone.

Sources

IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, en, medio, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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