Do you know 5 ways to use Dejar in Spanish? In this blog, you’ll learn how dynamic this Spanish verb is, including 5 main ways to use Dejar. Watch the video lesson and read on to see how to use the verb Dejar in Spanish.
The verb Dejar in Spanish generally means “to leave”. But often, students of Spanish confuse the meaning with other common verbs. Additionally, there are also a couple interesting idiomatic expressions that use Dejar too. Keep reading to learn the 5 main ways you can use the verb Dejar in Spanish.
How to Use Dejar in Spanish: #1 To Leave
The most common and well-known usage of the Spanish verb Dejar is “to leave something behind”. That’s right, not “to leave a place” like the verb Salir, but rather when you forget or choose to leave something or someone behind. Let’s see some examples:
| Dejé mi teléfono en casa. (I left my phone at home.) |
| Dejamos las llaves sobre la mesa. (We left the keys on the table.) |
Often students may get confused with “to leave” as in “to leave a place”. For this situation, you should always use the verb Salir instead of Dejar. For example:
| Mañana salgo en el bus de las seis y media de la mañana. (Tomorrow I leave on the bus at six-thirty AM.) |
| Salgamos ya o vamos a perder el tren. (Let’s leave now or we’ll miss the train.) |
Using the Verb Dejar: #2 To Leave a Job or Person
In addition to meaning “to leave something or someone behind”, you can also use the verb Dejar to quit a job or break up with someone! In this way, it’s similar to English, like to “leave a job” or “leave a partner”. Remember, Dejar is a regular -AR verb in Spanish. With no stem changes or irregularities across all Spanish tenses, this is an easy Spanish verb to use. Let’s see some examples:
| Mi hermano dejó su trabajo para viajar por el mundo. (My brother quit his job to travel the world.) |
| Ella dejó a su novio. (She left her boyfriend.) |
You can also use the verb Renunciar instead of Dejar when you’re talking about leaving a job. Likewise, you can use the verb Romper to talk about breakups in exactly the same way as in the above example.
#3: Using Dejar for To Quit or To Stop
So not only can you use Dejar to quit a job, you can also use to quit or stop any activity. You can use Dejar + de + action in the infintive to mean, “to stop doing something” or “to quit a habit”. Let’s see some examples:
| Dejé de fumar hace años. (I quit smoking years ago.) |
| ¡Deja de gritar! (Stop shouting!) |
To form this type of sentence with Dejar, remember to use the preposition de to connect the verb Dejar with the infinitive verb. Another interesting related usage is using Dejar to simply mean: “stop it”. For instance, if someone’s bugging you, or doing something annoying, you could simply say: ¡Deja!
Finally, there is another verb that you can use to say “Stop!”, the verb Parar. However, usually you use this verb in Spanish to stop a movement specifically, for example, when you’re driving and your passenger wants to say, “Stop!” You can say ¡Para!
Usage #4: Dejar to Mean To Let or Allow
| Mis padres no me dejan salir si tengo una prueba. (My parents don’t let me go out if I’ve got a test.) |
| Mi jefe no me dejó faltar a la junta. (My boss didn’t let me miss the meeting) |
When forming a sentence that uses Dejar in this way, you don’t need any prepositions to connect the two verbs. Simply use Dejar + el verbo en el infinitivo.
#5: Using Dejar in Idiomatic Expressions
There are several idiomatic expressions in Spanish that use Dejar. Here, we’ve outlined 3 very useful expressions that you can start using in different situations.
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
| Dejar plantado/a | To stand someone up | Me dejó plantada en la cita. (He stood me up on the date.) |
| Dejar(lo) | Nevermind; leave it | Déjalo. (nevermind) |
| Dejar en paz | To leave someone alone, to stop bothering someone | Por favor, déjame en paz. (Please leave me alone.) |
