salir con
verbCEFR B1High frequency
What does “salir con” mean in English?
to go out with / to date
to go out with / to date (salir con + person; idiomatic extension of salir; con marks romantic partner; llevar saliendo con for durative construction)
Example sentences
Lleva saliendo con ella desde que se conocieron en el trabajo, hace ya casi tres años, y parece que la relación va muy bien.
He has been going out with her since they met at work, nearly three years ago now, and the relationship seems to be going very well.
¿Estás saliendo con alguien, o todavía no has conocido a nadie que te interese de verdad?
Are you seeing someone, or have you still not met anyone who really interests you?
Cuando empezaron a salir, ninguno de los dos había tenido una relación seria antes, así que aprendieron muchas cosas juntos.
When they started going out, neither of them had been in a serious relationship before, so they learned a lot of things together.
How to use it
Salir con in the relationship sense means 'to go out with / to date someone' (romantic, not merely social). The preposition con is obligatory and marks the romantic partner. It is an idiomatic extension of the basic salir meaning ('to go out'); context makes the romantic reading unambiguous when alguien or a person is the complement. To describe an ongoing relationship, the durative periphrasis llevar + gerundio is natural: lleva dos años saliendo con ella (he has been going out with her for two years). Salir con is used across all Spanish-speaking regions.
Common mistake
Salir con meaning 'to date' is idiomatic — do not translate it literally as 'go out with' in all contexts. The preposition con is obligatory to mark the partner. 'Salir con alguien' = to date someone; 'salir a cenar' = to go out for dinner (no romantic implication without con + person).