diff --git a/examples/hello.ry b/examples/hello.ry
index b8aec3a..ca959ab 100644
--- a/examples/hello.ry
+++ b/examples/hello.ry
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // import std;
 
 fn f() i32 {
+    var a = 2;
     return 2;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/ast.zig b/src/ast.zig
index c68eefe..cb166d1 100644
--- a/src/ast.zig
+++ b/src/ast.zig
@@ -97,9 +97,6 @@ pub const AssignExpr = struct {
 pub const ExprType = enum {
     Assign,
 
-    // vardecls as expressions is a hack
-    VarDecl,
-
     Binary,
     Unary,
     Literal,
@@ -112,11 +109,6 @@ pub const ExprType = enum {
     Set,
 };
 
-pub const VarDecl = struct {
-    assign: AssignExpr,
-    mutable: bool = false,
-};
-
 pub const CallExpr = struct {
     callee: *Expr,
     paren: Token,
@@ -148,7 +140,6 @@ pub const SetExpr = struct {
 
 pub const Expr = union(ExprType) {
     Assign: AssignExpr,
-    VarDecl: VarDecl,
 
     Binary: BinaryExpr,
     Unary: UnaryExpr,
@@ -181,10 +172,16 @@ pub const ForStmt = struct {
     block: Block,
 };
 
+pub const VarDeclStmt = struct {
+    name: Token,
+    value: *Expr,
+};
+
 pub const Stmt = union(enum) {
     Expr: *Expr,
     Println: *Expr,
 
+    VarDecl: VarDeclStmt,
     If: IfStmt,
     Loop: LoopStmt,
     For: ForStmt,
@@ -261,6 +258,18 @@ pub const Stmt = union(enum) {
 
         return stmt;
     }
+
+    pub fn mkVarDecl(allocator: *std.mem.Allocator, name: Token, value: *Expr) !*Stmt {
+        var stmt = try allocator.create(Stmt);
+        stmt.* = Stmt{
+            .VarDecl = VarDeclStmt{
+                .name = name,
+                .value = value,
+            },
+        };
+
+        return stmt;
+    }
 };
 
 pub const FieldList = std.ArrayList(StructField);
diff --git a/src/ast_printer.zig b/src/ast_printer.zig
index 0e9b549..82ecfde 100644
--- a/src/ast_printer.zig
+++ b/src/ast_printer.zig
@@ -239,18 +239,6 @@ pub fn printExpr(expr: *const Expr) void {
 
         .Variable => |token| std.debug.warn("{}", token.lexeme),
 
-        .VarDecl => |decl| {
-            if (decl.mutable) {
-                std.debug.warn("(mut ");
-            } else {
-                std.debug.warn("(");
-            }
-
-            std.debug.warn("let {} ", decl.assign.name.lexeme);
-            printExpr(decl.assign.value);
-            std.debug.warn(")");
-        },
-
         .Assign => |assign| {
             std.debug.warn("(set ");
             std.debug.warn("{} ", assign.name.lexeme);
@@ -305,6 +293,12 @@ pub fn printStmt(ident: usize, stmt: *const Stmt) void {
         .Println => |expr| printSimpleOp("println", expr),
         .Expr => |expr| printExpr(expr),
 
+        .VarDecl => |decl| {
+            std.debug.warn("(let {} ", decl.name.lexeme);
+            printExpr(decl.value);
+            std.debug.warn(")");
+        },
+
         .If => |ifstmt| {
             std.debug.warn("(if ");
             printExpr(ifstmt.condition);
diff --git a/src/codegen.zig b/src/codegen.zig
index 1be2e5a..c92f452 100644
--- a/src/codegen.zig
+++ b/src/codegen.zig
@@ -79,8 +79,6 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
 
         // TODO VarDecl add things to the symbol table
         // TODO Assign modify symbol table
-
-        // TODO Calls fetch symbol table, check arity of it at codegen level
         return switch (expr.*) {
 
             // TODO handle all literals, construct llvm values for them
@@ -168,7 +166,6 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
 
             .Call => |call| {
                 const name = call.callee.*.Variable.lexeme;
-                //var sym = try self.ctx.fetchGlobalSymbol(func_name, .Function);
 
                 var llvm_func = self.llvm_table.get(name);
                 if (llvm_func == null) {
@@ -176,7 +173,6 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
                     return CompileError.EmitError;
                 }
 
-                // TODO args
                 var args = LLVMValueList.init(self.allocator);
                 errdefer args.deinit();
 
@@ -342,7 +338,6 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
                 llvm.LLVMPositionBuilderAtEnd(builder, entry);
 
                 for (decl.body.toSlice()) |stmt| {
-                    // TODO custom function context for us
                     try self.emitStmt(builder, &stmt);
                 }
 
diff --git a/src/parsers.zig b/src/parsers.zig
index 361fc66..04f9bf1 100644
--- a/src/parsers.zig
+++ b/src/parsers.zig
@@ -295,21 +295,6 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         return expr;
     }
 
-    fn mkVarDecl(self: *@This(), name: Token, value: *Expr, mutable: bool) !*Expr {
-        var vardecl = try self.allocator.create(Expr);
-        vardecl.* = Expr{
-            .VarDecl = ast.VarDecl{
-                .assign = ast.AssignExpr{
-                    .name = name,
-                    .value = value,
-                },
-                .mutable = mutable,
-            },
-        };
-
-        return vardecl;
-    }
-
     fn mkCall(self: *@This(), callee: *Expr, paren: Token, args: ast.ExprList) !*Expr {
         var expr = try self.allocator.create(Expr);
         expr.* = Expr{
@@ -716,6 +701,7 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
 
     fn parseStmt(self: *@This()) anyerror!*Stmt {
         return switch (self.peek().typ) {
+            .Var => try self.parseVarDecl(),
             .If => try self.parseIfStmt(),
             .Loop => try self.parseLoop(),
             .For => try self.parseForStmt(),
@@ -725,6 +711,14 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         };
     }
 
+    fn parseVarDecl(self: *@This()) !*Stmt {
+        _ = try self.consumeSingle(.Var);
+        var name = try self.consumeSingle(.Identifier);
+        _ = try self.consumeSingle(.Equal);
+        var value = try self.parseExpr();
+        return try Stmt.mkVarDecl(self.allocator, name, value);
+    }
+
     /// Parse a list of statements.
     fn parseBlock(self: *@This()) !*Node {
         var stmts = try self.parseBlockInternal(ast.StmtList);
@@ -840,8 +834,8 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
 
     fn parseAssignment(self: *@This()) anyerror!*Expr {
         // there can be two assignments coming out of this function:
-        //  - a mutable/immutable variable declaration with :=
-        //  - an assignment to a variable with =, +=, -=
+        //  - an assignment to a variable with =
+        //  - an update to a variable with +=, -=
 
         // one is a statement, other is an expression. since the normal result
         // of this is an Expr, we wrap variable assignments in an Expr as well.
@@ -855,7 +849,7 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         var expr = try self.parseOr();
 
         if (self.compareAnyOf(&[_]TokenType{
-            .ColonEqual, .Equal, .PlusEqual, .MinusEqual, .StarEqual,
+            .Equal,      .PlusEqual, .MinusEqual, .StarEqual,
             .SlashEqual,
         })) {
             return try self.finishAssignment(expr, mutable);
@@ -871,8 +865,7 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         var value = try self.parseAssignment();
 
         // expr can be a (Variable|Set)
-        // op_tok can be one of three categories:
-        //  - ColonEqual, parses to VarDecl (only when expr = Variable)
+        // op_tok can be one of two categories:
         //  - Equal, parses to (Assign|Set)
         //  - Inplace (+=, -=, *=, /=), parses to (Assign|Set)
 
@@ -893,7 +886,6 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         switch (expr.*) {
             .Variable => {
                 switch (op_tok.typ) {
-                    .ColonEqual => return try self.mkVarDecl(expr.Variable, value, mutable),
                     .Equal => return try self.mkAssign(expr.Variable, value),
 
                     .PlusEqual, .MinusEqual, .StarEqual, .SlashEqual => {
@@ -909,6 +901,7 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
 
             .Get => |get| {
                 switch (op_tok.typ) {
+                    // TODO remove .ColonEqual from language
                     .ColonEqual => {
                         return self.doError("can not initialize struct field");
                     },
diff --git a/src/scanners.zig b/src/scanners.zig
index 5271235..24f2116 100644
--- a/src/scanners.zig
+++ b/src/scanners.zig
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ const keywords = [_][]const u8{
     "pub",
     "and",
     "or",
+    "var",
 };
 
 const keyword_ttypes = [_]TokenType{
@@ -86,9 +87,12 @@ const keyword_ttypes = [_]TokenType{
     .Pub,
     .And,
     .Or,
+    .Var,
 };
 
 fn getKeyword(keyword: []const u8) ?TokenType {
+    std.debug.assert(keywords.len == keyword_ttypes.len);
+
     for (keywords) |kw, idx| {
         if (std.mem.eql(u8, keyword, kw)) {
             return keyword_ttypes[idx];
diff --git a/src/tokens.zig b/src/tokens.zig
index 1df9b37..75aa8f9 100644
--- a/src/tokens.zig
+++ b/src/tokens.zig
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ pub const TokenType = enum {
 
     Println,
     Pub,
+    Var,
 
     EOF,
 };