Can 'quitar' mean quit

Question

Can I use 'quitar' for 'quit' as in: 'I want to quit smoking' - 'Quiero quitar el fumar'. For some reason this feels better than 'Quiero dejar el fumar'. I don't know, maybe I learned something incorrectly a long time ago.

Dejar DE fumar. No, no creo que se pueda decir "quitar." - vivalafuriaroja, Jun 22, 2011

Thank you. - lkelly, Jun 22, 2011

Answer 1

Can I use 'quitar' for 'quit' as in: 'I want to quit smoking' - 'Quiero quitar el fumar'.

Short answer: NO. That sentence would mean "I want to remove the smoking".

For some reason this feels better than 'Quiero dejar el fumar'. I don't know, maybe I learned something incorrectly a long time ago.

The reason is that "quitar" and "quit" are cognates, and "quit smoking" sounds natural to you... but not to a Spanish speaker. To us, "quit smoking" sounds equally weird... until we are fluent in English. "Dejar de fumar" is the common expression in these cases.

Therefore, become fluent in Spanish, and the expression will sound perfectly natural to you.

The problem with Spanish is that "quitar" requires something to remove from somewhere, and "quit smoking" does not fit that pattern. In these cases, we can use "se" to remove the number of "participants" in the pattern: "quitarse del tabaco" would be pretty close to "quit smoking", but you can't omit that "se" and "de" is compulsory.

Good comments. Thank you. I am trying to become fluent, but it takes time. - lkelly, Jun 22, 2011

something to 'be removed' from somewhere :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 22, 2011

Answer 2

"Quitar" means to remove, so no you cannot say that for "quit".

You should say Quiero dejar de fumar. as noted by vivalafuriar.

Oops, posted at the same time as lazarus. - gintar77, Jun 22, 2011

No problem. The more, the merrier. - lazarus1907, Jun 22, 2011