Voy or Me voy?

I saw an online translator that indicated: Voy a ..... means - " I go to ....." whereas Me voy means - "I'm going to ...." Is there really a difference?

Hi Rob, I think there is a different between 'Voy a' and 'Me voy'. Voy a=I go to. 'a' is a preposition meaning 'to'. Voy a la fiesta I’m going to the party. ¡Me voy! (without preposition 'a' to) I’m off! / I’m leaving! No me voy hasta el martes. I don't leave until Tuesday.

Thanks for your comment. I didn't give enough information. I have seen two different translations for the english phrase, "I'm going to the party", to use your example. One said: - "Voy a la fiesta". the other said - "Me voy a la fiesta" for the same phrase. Is one of these more common? Do they have slightly different meanings or uses? Thank you.

"Voy a la fiesta" is, I believe a perfectly correct way to say "I am going to the party." I looked up "Me Voy" in the RS phrase finder and got several different usages. "No me importa" makes sense to me, I think it is reflexive, as in "To me it is not important." "!Me voy!"..."I'm off/I'm going" may be an idiomatic phrase. But John's example, "No me voy hasta el martes comes up as well and I don't understand what "me" is doing in that sentence. Hopefully a guru will stop by...

Hola a todos, John is correct and this link may clarify http://spanish.about.com/od/verbs/a/reflex_change.htm Saludos, Ricardo

Thank you for that Ricardo, but John didn't really answer my true question. He answered for "Me voy" by itself. I tried to clarify in a followup post that I have seen both: Voy a la fiesta. and Me voy a la fiesta. as a translation for "I'm going to the party." My question is, are both ok? Is one more correct? I consider this question unanswered but I appreciate the effort by all. Rob

Hola Rob, Perhaps this will help answer your question. One can say, voy a salir más tarde: I'm going to leave later or me voy más tarde, I'm leaving later. They both mean the same thing and I would translate voy a la fiesta as has been said, as I'm going to the party and me voy a la fiesta as I'm" leaving" for the party or "going". I guess to sum it up, both are ok and one is not more correct than the other. They both convey the same thing in a slightly different way depending on how they are translated. Saludos, Ricardo

Hola Ricardo. Gracias. That more clearly explains how the different phrases are related but express it slightly differently. That helps a lot. I admit I'm still in the dark a bit as to why "Me voy a" expresses I'm leaving while "Voy a" expresses "I'm going" but maybe that will come with more Spanish familiarity. Thank you very much for the clarification and thanks to all that responded. Rob