dejar
Spanish
Alternative forms
- dexar (obsolete)
Etymology
From older dexar, from Old Spanish lexar (modern alejar) from Latin laxāre, present active infinitive of laxō, whence also Spanish laxar (a borrowed doublet). Also compare Portuguese and Galician deixar, Asturian dexar, Aragonese deixar, Catalan deixar, Occitan daissar, laissar, Sicilian dassari and both French laisser and délaisser. The change of the initial -l- to -d- in many (especially Iberian) Romance languages has been explained in various ways: most likely, it is due to the influence of the preposition de, often used in constructions with this verb, or from contraction of a Late Latin delaxāre due to rapid pronunciation (as is common in quasi-auxiliary verbs). Less likely explanations include influence from the verb dar (“to give”), or derivation from Latin dēsinere, which is difficult on phonetic grounds[1]. Compare English lease.
Pronunciation
Verb
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- (transitive) to leave (to place)
- Dejé la cerveza arriba. ― I left the beer upstairs.
- (transitive) to leave, to keep (to allow to continue)
- Me gusta dejar la luz encendida. ― I like to keep/leave the light on.
- Supongo que podríamos dejar el restaurante abierto un poco más.
- I suppose we could keep the restaurant open a little bit longer.
- (transitive) to leave (to cause, result in)
- Su respuesta nos dejó convencidos. ― His answer left us convinced.
- (transitive) to let, allow
- (transitive) to let go, put down (to release from one's grasp)
- Synonym: soltar
- (transitive) to drop off
- Ayer dejé un paquete muy importante.
- Yesterday I dropped off a very important package.
- (transitive) to leave, to abandon, to dump
- Synonym: abandonar
- Su madre la dejó cuando tenía tres años.
- Her mother left her when she was three.
- La invitó a una cita muy agradable, y de repente de la nada, él la dejó.
- He took her on a really nice date, and then suddenly out of nowhere, he dumped her.
- (transitive) to give up, to lay off, to kick (colloquial)
- Van a dejar la bebida. ― They're going to lay off drinking.
- Estoy pensando en dejar el chocolate para la Cuaresma.
- I am thinking of giving up chocolate for Lent.
- Espero dejar ese hábito terrible para siempre. ― I hope to kick that terrible habit for good.
- (transitive) to set, to put, to make (in certain phrases)
- Quería dejar las cosas claras. ― I wanted to set the record straight.
- Usted tiene que dejar atrás el pasado. ― You've got to put the past behind you.
- El político emergente estaba decidido a dejar su huella.
- The emerging politician was determined to make his mark.
- (Spain, transitive, colloquial) to cut out (stop)
- (intransitive) to leave off
- (intransitive, or transitive with de) to cease, stop (doing something)
- Synonym: parar
- Hace dos años dejaron de fumar. ― Two years ago they stopped smoking.
- Mi pareja no deja de sorprenderme. ― My partner never ceases to amaze me.
- (reflexive, transitive with a) to be left, to be left to
- (reflexive) to let (oneself), to let oneself go (cease to care about one's appearance)
Conjugation
Template:es-conj-ar Template:es-conj-ar
Derived terms
- dejar atrás (“to leave behind”)
- dejar caer
- dejar de lado (“to set aside, to put aside”)
- dejar ir (“to let go”)
- dejar pasar
- dejar pasar
- dejar plantado
- dejarse
- dejarse en manos de (“to be left up to, to be left to, to be left in the hands of”)
- dejarse llevar (“to get carried away, to let oneself go; to be swayed”)
Related terms
Further reading
References
- Spanish terms inherited from Old Spanish
- Spanish terms derived from Old Spanish
- Spanish terms inherited from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Spanish transitive verbs
- Spanish terms with usage examples
- Peninsular Spanish
- Spanish colloquialisms
- Spanish intransitive verbs
- Spanish reflexive verbs
- Spanish basic words