Llevarse bien / Llevarse mal

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/ʝe·ˈβaɾ·se βjen ʝe·ˈβaɾ·se mal/

To carry oneself well / To carry oneself badly.

Frequency

ConversationVery common

JournalismCommon

LiteraryCommon

AcademicOccasional

In English

to get along; **to get along**; **to get on well**; **to have a good relationship**; **not to get along**; **to be on bad terms**

Meaning

Llevarse bien means to have a good relationship with someone.

Examples

Nos llevamos muy bien.

We get along really well.

Siempre se han llevado mal.

They've never got along.

¿Te llevas bien con tus vecinos?

Do you get along with your neighbours?

Antes nos llevábamos mejor.

We used to get along better.

Llevarse mal means to have a poor relationship, to argue frequently or simply not get along.

Unlike caer bien, which describes the impression one person makes on another, llevarse bien refers to the relationship itself.

The feeling is normally mutual.

Two people se llevan bien.

Two people se llevan mal.

Used when

friends
brothers and sisters
classmates
neighbours
colleagues
couples
parents and children

Origin

The expression comes from the verb llevar, meaning "to carry" or "to take."

Originally, it referred to the way people "carried" or conducted their relationship with one another.

Over time, the metaphor became fixed.

Modern speakers no longer associate the expression with carrying anything.

Instead, llevarse bien has become the normal way to describe harmonious relationships.

Cultural note

Spanish makes an interesting distinction between caer bien and llevarse bien.

Someone may caerte bien after meeting them for only a few minutes.

However, you only te llevas bien with someone after developing an actual relationship.

For example:

El profesor me cae muy bien.

means you like the teacher.

But:

Me llevo muy bien con el profesor.

means that you have a genuinely good relationship with them.

Native speakers make this distinction instinctively.

Did you know?

For many learners, caer bien and llevarse bien are confused for years because English often translates both simply as to like someone or to get along.

Native speakers, however, rarely confuse them.

One describes the first impression.

The other describes the relationship.

Mastering the difference is one of the clearest signs of advanced fluency in Spanish.

For English speakers

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would never say:

We carry ourselves well.

Instead, use expressions such as:

We get along well.
They don't get along.
She has a good relationship with her colleagues.

The expression always refers to the quality of a relationship.