llevarse vs llevar

[mwtzzz]

My wife tends to say things like "el hombre se llevó el paquete" instead of "el hombre llevó el paquete" and I'm wondering what the difference is, if any, and whether the first form is actually grammatically correct.

[Rusty]

Corrected title from 'se llevar' to 'llevarse'.

In the sense of 'carry' or 'take', both llevar and llevarse can be used, the latter being used when the subject is carrying/taking something to another place.

'Llevarse' can also mean 'to steal'.

[mwtzzz]

I had a friend explain it to me. He says they use "llevar" when there is a specific destination, like when someone takes a bottle of ketchup from one table to another. They use "llevarse" to mean take something away without a specific destination.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Rusty.
I would just like to add that when we use "llevarse", we don't always know where the thing was taken to. And when we say "llevar" we always know where it was taken to.
When we say "llevarse" and we know where to, the pronominal particle is just an emphasis on the action or the meaning is that the thing was stolen.


- Se llevaron a mi perro.
Someone took my dog away. (We don't know who did it or where the dog is.)

- ¿Te llevaste el azúcar?
Did you take the sugar? (I can't find the sugar where I put it. What did you do to it?)

- Roberto se llevó trabajo a casa.
Roberto took work home with him. (Emphasis on the action of "being accompanied" by work.)

- María se llevó el premio mayor de la lotería.
María won the first prize in the lotto. (An emphasis on the verb underlines her luck, not her will to take something.)


- Llevé a los niños a la escuela.
I took the children to school.
(We know where I took the children. If I had said "me llevé", then either someone didn't want me to take the children to school or I did it because of my own whim, or I simply made an emphasis on the action to talk about my activities. The context will tell.)

- ¿Vas a salir? ¿Ya llevas las llaves?
Are you going out? Do you have the keys (to enter the house when you come back)?
(If I said "te llevas las llaves", I'm asking if you are taking them away or I'm making an emphasis on the fact that you need to carry keys for when you come back.)