Spanish Word of the Day: ponerse/quedarse

Yes, today two words: ponerse and quedarse. Literally, they have two seperate meanings: “to put oneself” (ponerse) and “to remain” (quedarse). But they’re also used to make the same thought clear. Today, tomorrow and Thursday I’ll post a small series of posts regarding ‘change’ of personality, etc., with today the first episode.

So, ponerse and quedarse are used to describe spontaneous changes of a person, which aren’t permanent. Like being nervous or happy. My Gente 2 textbook puts it this way:

“Usamos ponerse y quedarse para expresar cambios espontáneos y no permanentes en el estado de ánimo.”

Sentences

Se ha puesto muy nerviosa.
She became very nervous.

Me puse contentísimo.
I was very happy.

Nos hemos quedado preocupados.
We became very worried.

Se han quedado muy sorprendidas.
They were very suprised.