Quedarse en cuadro
To be left as a square / frame.
to be down to just a few people; **to be down to just a few people**; **to be severely depleted**; **to be shorthanded**; **to be short-staffed**; **to be reduced to a skeleton crew**; **to be down to the bare minimum**
Quedarse en cuadro means to be left with very few people, to be reduced to a small group, or to find oneself with a severely depleted number of people or resources.
Con tantas bajas, nos hemos quedado en cuadro.
With so many people absent, we're down to just a few.
Después de las vacaciones, el departamento se quedó en cuadro.
After the holidays, the department was severely understaffed.
Entre las lesiones y las sanciones, el equipo está en cuadro.
With all the injuries and suspensions, the team is seriously depleted.
Se fueron tres compañeros y nos quedamos en cuadro.
Three colleagues left and we were left with hardly anyone.
Si faltan dos personas más, nos quedamos en cuadro.
If two more people are absent, we'll be seriously short-staffed.
It is especially used when a group has lost members through departures, absences, illness, resignations or other circumstances.
A common construction is:
Nos hemos quedado en cuadro.
→ We're down to just a few people.
- many members of a group are absent
- several workers have left
- a team has suffered numerous injuries or suspensions
- a group has been drastically reduced
- there are no longer enough people to carry out a task normally
The expression is traditionally associated with cuadro in the sense of a military or organisational staff, squad or group of personnel.
A cuadro can refer to the personnel structure of an organisation, particularly its essential members or officers.
When a group is reduced to only a few remaining members, it can metaphorically be described as having been left in cuadro.
The expression is especially common in sport and workplace contexts.
For example:
El Athletic está en cuadro por las lesiones.
This means:
Athletic are severely depleted because of injuries.
It does not mean that the players are literally "in a square".
The expression normally implies that the remaining people are insufficient for normal functioning.
There is a closely related expression:
Estar en cuadro.
It means that a team or group is seriously depleted, particularly because several members are unavailable.
For example:
El equipo está en cuadro.
→ The team is seriously depleted.
Quedarse en cuadro emphasises the process of becoming depleted, whereas estar en cuadro describes the resulting state.
Do not translate:
Nos hemos quedado en cuadro.
as:
We've been left in a square.
Natural translations include:
We're down to just a few people.
We're seriously short-staffed.
We're down to a skeleton crew.
There are five hundred more.
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