Four Ways to Leave: Partir, Quitter, Laisser, Sortir

The verbs partir, laisser, quitter, and sortir all mean “to leave." Why so many verbs? Which one should you use in which context? For example, did you know that you have to use a different French verb for leaving a friend, leaving a place, or leaving your keys on the table? Let's find out how to translate “leave” in the right way. C’est parti (off we go)!

Let's start with partir, which simply means to “leave” or “depart”:

On part à dix heures

We leave at ten a.m.

Caption 3, Miniji Gwendal

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Partir often implies travel. You can use it to talk about a plane departing:

[Si] ça se trouve, l'avion est déjà parti.

It could be that the plane already left.

Caption 8, Le Jour où tout a basculé Ma fille et mon mari se sont fait berner - Part 8

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Or about leaving to go on a trip, like this ceramics specialist who travels for research:

Je pars deux mois minimum chaque année à l'étranger

I leave for two months minimum overseas each year

Captions 44-45, Vauréal Manon Saenko, En Mille Morceaux

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Now, saying something as simple as “I left my place” or “I left home” is a bit trickier in French. You can't translate this literally and say je suis parti ma maison, as this makes no sense at all in French. Partir is intransitive (does not take an object), so you will have to use auxiliary être in the past tense and insert the preposition de: 

Alors je suis parti de chez moi vers quinze heures.

So I left my place around three p.m.

Caption 40, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience - Usurpation d'identité entre frères ? - Part 2

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Incidentally, if you forget to add de after parti, you will end up saying the opposite!

Alors je suis parti chez moi vers quinze heures.

So I left for my place around three p.m.

Alternatively, you can use the verb quitter to avoid confusion. Since quitter is transitive, you can say quitter la maison (to leave the house), no preposition needed:

Sans bruit je quitte la maison

Without a sound I leave the house

Caption 19, Michel Sardou Comme d'habitude

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In the following example, the speaker uses both partir and quitter to tell his wife that he's moving out (partir) and leaving her in the process (quitter)!

Et ben en fait, c'est moi qui pars. Voilà! Je te quitte.

Well, in fact, I'm the one leaving. There! I'm leaving you.

Captions 33-34, Le Jour où tout a basculé Mes grands-parents sont infidèles - Part 2

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On the other hand, in this song, leaving family behind was not by choice:

Tu as quitté tous tes frères / Pour protéger ma chère mère / Qui a dû quitter la sienne

You left all your brothers / To protect my dear mother / Who had to leave hers

Captions 5-7, Ina-Ich Libre comme l'eau

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Some people are forced or choose to leave their country for political reasons, like this sculptor:

Il a quitté la Pologne à cause du régime soviétique.

He left Poland because of the Soviet regime.

Caption 6, Lionel Le Musée du Calendrier de la Paix - Part 4

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In any case, be careful when using the verb quitter, as it has a much more permanent feeling than partir. Quitter quelqu’un usually means breaking ties with them. So if you're just leaving someone for a bit to go about your business, laisser is the preferred choice. In this video, Sophie has to leave Patrice to do some delicious cooking. She uses the expression il faut que + subjunctive (I have to):

Je dois aller faire la cuisine. Ah. -Faut que je te laisse. -Fais-moi un poulet coco.

I have to go cook. Ah. -I have to leave you. -Make me a coconut chicken.

Captions 105-106, Sophie et Alexandre Et les vacances ?

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Alternatively, you can avoid the subjunctive by saying je te laisse (I’ll leave you to it) as you part company:

Bon, je te laisse et je te dis à bientôt.

OK, I'll leave you to it, and I'll see you soon.

Caption 78, Lionel et Hamid Le Parc de la Villette

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If guests don’t get the message, you can always tell them to leave by using the expression laissez-moi tranquille if you really need to be “left alone,” like poor Isabelle in this video:

Je connais mes droits. Donc laissez-moi tranquille.

I know my rights. So leave me alone.

Caption 89, Mère & Fille La soirée

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Laisser not only applies to people, but can also mean leaving something behind, for posterity even, as in laisser un héritage (to leave a legacy):

Elle nous laisse un héritage immense, et immortel.

She leaves us an immense legacy, and immortal.

Captions 119-120, Français avec Nelly Coco Chanel - Part 2

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And if you leave something behind by accident, as in forgetting your car keys inside the car, also use laisser:

Zut ! J’ai laissé mes clés de contact dans la voiture !

Darn! I left my car keys inside the car!

Laisser has additional meanings. For example, the construction laisser + infinitive means “to let” or “to allow." In the video below, Barbara tells us that her mother has misgivings about [la] laisser sortir le soir (letting [her] go out at night):

Elle avait toujours un peu de mal à me laisser sortir le soir.

She still had a little trouble letting me go out at night.

Captions 23-24, Mère & Fille La soirée

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Like Barbara, French people were not allowed to sortir de chez eux (leave the house) during the pandemic, but thankfully this is not the case anymore. Sortir is similar to partir, though it has a more specific sense of "going out(side)" or "exiting" a place:

En effet, les Français n'ont plus besoin d'autorisation pour sortir de chez eux.

Indeed, French people no longer need an authorization to leave their homes.

Captions 3-4, Lionel L Le déconfinement

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You can even use sortir when leaving the table (sortir de table):

Quand midi arrive que je sors juste de table

When lunchtime arrives, as I've just left the table

Caption 14, Oldelaf Je mange

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C’est l’heure de partir et de vous laisser (It’s time to leave and to leave you to it). Thank you for reading!