Ir vs Irse

What’s the difference between ir and irse?

Well, they are basically different verbs. In the same way that to get and to get up are two different verbs in English, ir (to go) and irse (to leave) also mean different things, even though they are based on the same conjugation.

Let’s conjugate both to get and to get up in English:

And let’s use them in sentences:

I always get bad grades.
I always get up at seven.

Of course, we cannot use get up when we should be using get, and we cannot use get when we should be using get up:

* I always get up bad grades. (?)
* I always get at seven. (?)

The same thing happens in Spanish with ir and irse. Let’s conjugate them:

Additionally, verbs ir and irse also use different prepositions in Spanish:

We go “to” places: Yo voy a la cafetería. (I go to the coffee-shop.)
We leave “from” places: Yo me voy de mi trabajo. (I leave work.)

Here are some examples:

We hope it’s more clear now!