Can you explain when you use “to end” and “to finish” in English? If so, you can apply the idea to the Spanish verbs “acabar” and “terminar”.
This week’s Spanish theory episode is dedicated to the common spanish verb “acabar”.
In many of the examples in today’s podcast the Spanish verb “terminar” and “acabar” are interchangeable. But, just like in English, there are a few situations when you can only use one or the other.
In today’s podcast you will find out how to use ‘acabar’ in a conversation and some of it’s important uses with Spanish prepositions. If you have any questions, you can leave them below.
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Examples from today’s podcast:
I finish work at 5 – Termino mi trabajo a las 5.
I finish work at 5 – Acabo mi trabajo a las 5.
I don’t like how the movie ends – No me gusta cómo acaba la película.
Sofia and I are ended – Sofia y yo hemos acabado.
The word ‘university’ ends in the letter D – La palabra ‘universidad’ acaba en la letra D.
The dinner ended in drinks until 3 am – La cena acabó en copas hasta las 3 de la madrugada.
My trip to Europe ended in Paris – Mi viaje a Europa acabó en París.
I just finished my homework – acabo de terminar mis deberes.
She just called the doctor – Ella acaba de llamar al médico.
I just do not understand – No acabo de entenderlo.
Guys just don’t understand women – Los chicos no acaban de entender las mujeres.
He ended up working at McDonalds – Él acabó trabajando en McDonalds.
After much sacrifice and dedication, he ended up being a very famous actor – Después de mucho sacrificio y dedicación, él acabó siendo actor muy famoso.
My boss ended the discussion by slamming a fist on the table – Mi jefe acabó con la discusión en un golpe en la mesa.
Police ended the drug problem in my neighborhood – la policía acabó con el problema de la droga en mi barrio.
Teacher comments ended my hopes of passing the exam – Los comentarios del profesor acabaron con mis esperanzas de aprobar el examen.
How else can you use the Spanish verb “acabar” in a conversation?
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Nice article….I love your page
but why is Acabo de used as just, i thought is ‘solo or simplemente’ mostly used as ‘Just”
pls can you throw more light on it.
Best regards
Osifo.
Hola Osifo, “solo” means “only” and “simplemente” means “simply”. For example:
I only exercise on Thursdays – Solo hago ejercicio los jueves.
In this example, you could replace “only” in English with “just”. But, the translation of “just” as in “acabar de” refers to an action that has just been completed. For example:
I just finished my homework – Acabo de terminar mi tarea.
Hopefully that sheds a little more light on the translation of “acabar + de”.
Hi!
This has been really helpful!
One question – with the “Acabar con” –> You said it was good to think of this as “to put an end to/with something”. The examples you gave had nouns that followed CON. Can you say that generally a noun will follow with CON?
Thank you!
Elise
Hola Reyes, yes, you’re right. It is okay to say that generally a noun will follow con in the phrase “acabar con (algo)”.
Can you say a the following:
1) Tengo que acabar con algo.= I have to finish something
or is it better to say Tengo que acabar algo.
Thanks
It would probably be better to use the verb “terminar” and say “tengo que terminar algo”. These verbs are sometimes interchangeable but I would say that “terminar” is more common in this context.
You’re the bomb! This has helped like crazy! I learned some gnarly uses for the verb “acabar.” Thank you so much for all the help you lay at people’s feet. Much appreciation for the totally rad podcasts, too. Your teaching method is seriously bodacious dude. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for the kind words!! 🙂