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Please read the below sentence:

Ya que los mayores iban a el campo a trabajar, los niños se quedaban y jugaban juntos.

In English it means: Since the older went to work in the field, the children stayed and played together. (Correct??)

But "quedar" can also mean "to meet (citarse)", so here can we say "se quedaban" also mean "they met together" (ie. "se" is 'Con valor recíproco') ??

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    the verb "quedar" can't mean "to meet" when it's used in a pronominal way. So if you say "los niños se quedaban" it can't mean "to meet" but "los niños quedaban" can mean that. – Javi Feb 09 '12 at 14:14
  • @Javi: so does it mean if we use "se", once it is a pronominal, it can't be "recíproco"?? –  Feb 09 '12 at 14:28
  • This "se" is not "con valor recíproco". It would be reciprocal if the action were done to each other. But it's not the case because you can't "stay to each other". – Javi Feb 09 '12 at 15:50
  • But "quedar" can also mean "to meet". So can't "se quedar" mean "they meet together"? –  Feb 09 '12 at 15:56
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    "quedar" can mean "to meet" but it would be more precise to say that it can mean "to arrange to meet". "quedarse" never means "to meet" because you can't "arrange each other to meet". – Javi Feb 09 '12 at 16:06

1 Answers1

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The correct sentence is the first one:

Since the older went to work in the field, the children stayed and played together.

To get the second meaning (to meet) the sentence in spanish needs to be something similar to this:

Ya que los mayores iban a el campo a trabajar, los niños quedaban para jugar juntos.

Also, in Spanish a el is contracted into al, the same happens to de el, which becomes del:

Ya que los mayores iban AL campo...

Hope this helps you.

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