Expressions with "Salir"

Quick Answer

Saliris one of the most important Spanish verbs to learn. It has many definitions, but most often, it translates as to leave or to go out.

Conjugating Salir

Salir is an irregular verb in many forms and tenses. Click here for the conjugation chart!

Leaving a Place

To express the action of leaving a specific place, we combine salir with the preposition de.

For example:

examples
Salí del trabajo hoy a las 6:00 pm. I left work at 6:00 pm today.
Estaba lloviendo cuando salió de casa. It was raining when she left the house.

When talking about a place that is masculine and singular, remember that de + el = del.

Por vs. Para

Salir is commonly used with poror parato indicate movement through or to a place. Salir por translates as to leave through or to go out through, while salir para translates as to leave for.

Let’s put these prepositions into practice!

examples
El ladrón salió por la ventana. The thief left through the window.
Salgo para Madrid mañana. I'm leaving for Madrid tomorrow.

Click here to learn more about the differences between por and para.

Going Out to Do Something

Using salir with afollowed by an infinitive expresses the action of going out to do something.

Take a look at these examples.

examples
Las chicas salieron a bailar. The girls went out dancing.
Hace mucho sol. Salgamos a pasear. It’s really sunny. Let's go for a walk.

Going Out with Someone

To talk about who somebody is going out with or who someone is dating, use the phrase salir con.

examples
¿Es verdad que Lupita sale con Lorenzo? Is it true that Lupita is going out with Lorenzo?
No estoy saliendo con nadie en este momento. I’m not dating anyone right now.

con + mí = conmigo(with me)

con + ti = contigo(with you)

Talking about How Something Went

To say that something went well, use the phrase salir bien. Use salir mal when something went wrong.

examples
Espero que todo salga bien. I hope everything goes well.
Me salieron mal los planes. My plans went wrong.

Salir bien and salir mal are often used with an indirect object pronoun.

Salir + Gerund

Salir is sometimes used with a gerund to express rapid movement.

examples
Anoche soñé que salí volando por la ventana de un auto. Last night I dreamed that I went flying out of a car window.
Cuando se dio cuenta de que el reloj estaba atrasado una hora, salió pitando. When he realized the clock was an hour slow, he was off like a shot.

Pronominal Use of Salir

The following expressions use the verb salir pronominally.

Expression in Spanish	Meaning in English
salirse por la tangente	to go off on a tangent
salirse con la suya	to get one's own way
salirse por peteneras	to change the subject

Additional Expressions

Salir is used in a multitude of other expressions, most of which do not translate literally from Spanish to English.

Expression in Spanish	Meaning in English
salir adelante	to get ahead
salir a	to take after
salir afuera	to go outside
salga lo que salga	come what may
salir barato	to end up being cheap
salir caro	to end up being expensive
salir campeón	to become champion
salir elegido	to be elected
salir a chorro	to jet out
salir ileso	to suffer no injuries
salir a cuenta	to be worth
salir a escena	to go on stage
salir a la luz	to come to light/to come out
salir disparado	to dash/make a beeline
salir de noche	to have a night out
salir de paseo	to go for a walk
salir de viaje	to go away on a trip
salir empatado	to be tied
salir por pies	to take to one's heels
fichar al salir	to clock out
salir de fiesta	to go out partying
salir de marcha	to go out on the town
salir impune de	to get away with
salir el tiro por la culata	to backfire on