# לסיים vs לגמור



## dukaine

What's the difference?  Are there specific contexts in which each is used or are they interchangeable?  I've seen לגמור used for "finish eating", and לסיים for finishing school, or when your hair or nail appointment is over, your stylist says, "סיימנו".  Maybe לגמור for completing an action, and לסיים for completing an event?


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## arbelyoni

There's no difference.
לסיים may be a little higher, or more polite than לגמור, but all in all they are used interchangeably (you could just as well say לסיים לאכול and גמרנו when your appointment is over).
לגמור is also "to come" (to reach an orgasm), so in recent years there's a tendency of using לסיים more often in conversation.

Read more here (second paragraph).


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## arielipi

there is some difference, you almost never say gamarti leechol, i just cant identify the difference yet.


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## dukaine

תלמידים מישראל המציאו ארטיק מיוחד.  בתוך המקל יש מטלית.  אחרי שגומרים לאכול את הארטיק, מנקין את הידיים עם המטלית

This is the phrase that I read in my Bereshit newspaper that used "ligmor" for finishing eating.  The newspaper uses more formal writing; this is the first time I've seen the newspaper use "ligmor" for "finish".


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## OsehAlyah

For whatever it's worth, I always thought of Ligmor to mean "to finish", whereas Lesaem to mean "to conclude".


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## Albert Schlef

When no more food is left you can only say "האוכל נגמר", not "האוכל הסתיים". (Correct me if I'm wrong.)


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## origumi

Albert Schlef said:


> When no more food is left you can only say "האוכל נגמר", not "האוכל הסתיים". (Correct me if I'm wrong.)


That's right: הסתיים (or תם) refers mainly to time period.


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## rebecka

arielipi said:


> there is some difference, you almost never say gamarti leechol, i just cant identify the difference yet.



But can you say "siyamti le'ekhol" to mean "I am finished eating."?


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## slus

rebecka said:


> But can you say "siyamti le'ekhol" to mean "I am finished eating."?



Yes.


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