Why is it "tengo que irme?"

Question

Shouldn't it just be "tengo que ir?" Why is there a reflexive? The sentence is:

Marco: Quieres hacer una excursion con mi familia? Gaby: Si! Tengo que irme... Chau!

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Irse has the implication of "heading out/leaving" whereas "ir" simply means "to go". That is, if I say "Me voy" it means "I'm leaving" (from here, and where I am going is not implied or known) whereas if I were to say "Voy" I would need to specify where I was going (i.e. Voy a mi casa).

Thus, tengo que irme means I have to leave... similar to tengo que salir (although the connotation is different... the denotative meanings are the same I believe)

Just as a side note.... from what I've heard, "Me tengo que ir" would be the more natural way to say it (although "Tengo que irme" is completely correct grammatically).

Answer 2

Tengo que irme is said when you are obliged to leave your present location wheras if you said tengo que ir you would have to state where you are going to after the ir.

Answer 3

Hey Linda,

In this sentence, "irme" means "to go out". "Ir" is just "to go". Irse is the reflexive verb meaning to go out, and is used if you are saying you are going to leave. We don't distinguish in English between these 2 senses quite so much, you just have to learn it. Ir would be used if you wanted to say, for instance, I want to go the store.

J