Spanish expression · Updated October 10, 2026

¡Vámonos!

¡Vámonos! means “let's go”, usually right now: you're leaving, and you want everyone else to leave with you. It comes from irse (to leave), so it carries a sense of getting out of somewhere. Plain vamos means “let's go” or “come on” without the leaving. Both work everywhere Spanish is spoken.

How people really use it

Two friends at the end of a long party.

1. Lucía

   Ya son las dos. Estoy muerta.

   It's already two o'clock. I'm exhausted.

2. Mateo

   Yo también. ¡Vámonos!

   Me too. Let's go!

3. Lucía

   Espera, que no encuentro mi chaqueta.

   Wait, I can't find my jacket.

A couple is late for the cinema.

1. Diego

   ¿Ya estás lista? La película empieza en veinte minutos.

   Are you ready? The film starts in twenty minutes.

2. Camila

   ¡Sí, sí! Vámonos, que no quiero perderme el principio.

   Yes, yes! Let's go, I don't want to miss the beginning.

Friends at a restaurant where the service is very slow.

1. Andrés

   Llevamos cuarenta minutos y nadie nos trae la carta.

   We've been here forty minutes and nobody's brought us the menu.

2. Sofía

   ¿Sabes qué? Vámonos a otro lado.

   You know what? Let's go somewhere else.

3. Andrés

   Buena idea. Hay una taquería en la esquina.

   Good idea. There's a taco place on the corner.

🤷 Depende del País

¡Vámonos! is understood and used everywhere. What changes is the word people put in front of it.

• 🇲🇽 Mexico: ¡Ándale, vámonos! (“come on, let's go!”) is the classic hurry-up.
• 🇪🇸 Spain: ¡Venga, vámonos! (“come on, let's go”). Spaniards also say ¡Nos vamos! (“we're off!”).
• 🇦🇷 Argentina: ¡Dale, vamos! (“OK, let's go!”). In Buenos Aires we often drop the -nos and just say vamos.

Register and sound

Register. Informal and neutral. Fine with friends, family and coworkers. With a boss or a client, say ¿Nos vamos? (“shall we go?”), which is softer.

Sounds like. Stress on the first syllable: BAH-mo-nos. Spanish v sounds like a soft b, so it is never “vah” as in English “van”.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between vamos and vámonos?

Vamos means “let's go” or “come on” and also “we go”. Vámonos adds the idea of leaving a place: let's go, now, out of here. At a party, vámonos means you're leaving; at a football match, ¡vamos! means “come on!”.

How do Mexicans say “let's go”?

¡Vámonos! or ¡Ándale, vámonos! when they want you to hurry. Vamos on its own is also common.

Is vámonos rude?

No. It's informal, not rude. With someone you'd address as usted, ¿Nos vamos? sounds more polite.