quedar
/keˈdaɾ/
To say meet up in Spanish, use quedar, the everyday verb for arranging to see someone.
quedar expresses the idea of meeting up casually at an agreed time or place. To name the person you are meeting, add con, as in quedar con alguien.
Meaning: intransitive: to come together with (someone), often at a prearranged time and/or location (verb)
Which one should you use?
Vernos means to see each other and also works to suggest meeting up. Juntarse is another casual way to say get together. The verb quedar also has a more common literal meaning, to stay or to remain in a place, so context tells you which sense is meant.
How does it change in a sentence?
The first person plural form quedamos is often used for a plan or an agreement to meet, as in Quedamos con Daniel.
How do you pronounce it?
quedar is pronounced /keˈdaɾ/, with the stress on the last syllable and a tapped r.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often use conocer here, but that means to meet someone for the first time. For meeting up with someone you already know, use quedar.
Did you know?
- The verb quedar is also used to describe how clothes fit, such as saying a shirt queda bien if it looks good on someone.
- The word quedar is a distant relative of the English words 'quit' and 'quiet'.
- While quedar is the standard way to say meet up in Spain, speakers in Mexico and other Latin American countries are much more likely to use juntarse or reunirse.
Examples in context
- Quedamos con Daniel.We agreed to meet up with Daniel.Quedamos with con names Daniel as the person being met.
- Quedamos en encontrarnos en el restaurante a las 6 de la tardeWe agreed to meet up at the restaurant at 6 p.m.
- Es importante reunirnos para discutir estos asuntosIt is important for us to meet up to discuss these matters
- ¿Quedamos para tomar un café?Shall we meet up for a coffee?
- Nos vemos en el parque esta tardeLet's meet up at the park this afternoon
- ¿Nos juntamos después del trabajo?Shall we meet up after work?
- Queremos quedar en la plaza.We want to meet up in the plaza.
- ¿A qué hora vas a quedar con ella?What time are you going to meet up with her?
Example conversation
Javier and Elena are planning their weekend.
- JavierElena, ¿quieres quedar el sábado?Elena, do you want to meet up on Saturday?
- ElenaSí, me gustaría mucho quedar.Yes, I would really like to meet up.
- Javier¿Podemos quedar a las cinco?Can we meet up at five?
- ElenaPerfecto, quedamos a esa hora.Perfect, we'll meet up at that time.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “meet up” translations and entries quedar, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries quedar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
