# кончила/ закончила книгу?



## clapec

Hi!
I have a little doubt concerning Russian language: a friend of mine asked me how I would translate the sentence "Yesterday I finished reading _Жизнь и судьба_" into Russian. 
I would say: "Вчера я *закончила* _Жизнь и судьба_", whereas my friend would use the verb кончить -> "Вчера я *кончила* _Жизнь и судьба_".
I looked both verbs up in a dictionary, and кончить actually seems to be right; however, закончить sounds better to me.
Which is the correct alternative?
Thank you very much for your help!


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## jazyk

I'd personally use читать in the perfective:

Вчера я прочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба._


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## Jana337

clapec said:


> Hi!
> I have a little doubt concerning Russian language: a friend of mine asked me how I would translate the sentence "Yesterday I finished reading _Жизнь и судьба_" into Russian.
> I would say: "Вчера я *закончила* _Жизнь и судьба_", whereas my friend would use the verb кончить -> "Вчера я *кончила* _Жизнь и судьба_".
> I looked both verbs up in a dictionary, and кончить actually seems to be right; however, закончить sounds better to me.
> Which is the correct alternative?
> Thank you very much for your help!


I would do it like you but Russian aspects are trickier than Czech ones. 



jazyk said:


> I'd personally use читать in the perfective:
> 
> Вчера я прочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба._


This is a correct sentence but it means that you started reading the book yesterday and finished it on the same day.
  Вчера я дочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба.

_The usual disclaimer applies. 

Jana


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## robertino

I agree with Jana:
"Вчера я дочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба" _is the best one, but this is the opinion of a bad student


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## jazyk

> This is a correct sentence but it means that you started reading the book yesterday and finished it on the same day.


Right, but isn't it what Clapec means? Well, I don't know if it's possible to read that book in one day, I've never heard of it.

Now, thinking about it, I see she wrote Yesterday I finished reading, which means that she had begun it some time earlier.  Yep, dochital(a) looks good to me.


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## papillon

Jana337 said:


> --- Вчера я прочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба._
> This is a correct sentence but it means that you started reading the book yesterday and finished it on the same day.
> Вчера я дочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба._


Jana is absolutely right, as always!
прочитал(а) would indeed indicate that you started and finished in that same day. So you probably wouldn't use it with "Вчера", I doubt you can do it in a day. However, if you say 
На той неделе я прочитал..., this is OK, since one week is enough time.
дочитал(а) is the most appropriate word, but you can also say
_ закончил(а) читать Жизнь и судьбу_, or even 
_ закончил(а) Жизнь и судьбу,
I've used all three forms before.
_It's interesting to note that the Title of the book usually takes on the appropriate grammatic case, as in
 дочитал(а) "Войну и мир"
 _закончил(а) "Трех мушкетеров".

_As for the word *кончит*ь (without the *за* particle), due to the sexual connotation that it has acquired in recent decades, I find that many younger people actually avoid using this word if possible. Myself, I tend to use it very sparingly..

Jana, I like your green arrows. I'm going to start using them too


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## Setwale_Charm

papillon said:


> As for the word *кончит*ь (without the *за* particle), due to the sexual connotation that it has acquired in recent decades, I find that many younger people actually avoid using this word if possible. Myself, I tend to use it very sparingly..
> 
> Jana, I like your green arrows. I'm going to start using them too


 
Not only that . It is also used (although less commonly than *при**кончит*ь) with the meaning of 'do away with', put an end to somebody`s existence. So "*Я кончил книгу"* will sound a bit like you have torn the book to pieces, burnt it or something. *Закончил *is also OK, it is widely used in colloquial Russian and, I guess, will not be considered a mistake even by teachers of Russian. But! that may mean both that you have finished reading and that you have finished writing a book of your own!


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## clapec

Большое спасибо!


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## dec-sev

Setwale_Charm said:


> Not only that . It is also used (although less commonly than *при**кончит*ь) with the meaning of 'do away with', put an end to somebody`s existence. So "*Я кончил книгу"* will sound a bit like you have torn the book to pieces, burnt it or something. *Закончил *is also OK, it is widely used in colloquial Russian and, I guess, will not be considered a mistake even by teachers of Russian. But! that may mean both that you have finished reading and that you have finished writing a book of your own!


If you are a foreigner and you have a good teacher he/she won't consider it as a mistake but nevertheless she I want to  lay an emphasis on the gender of the teacher will surely be confused to hear such a wording for the reasons stated above ( sexual context). It's better tu say я закончил книгу. If you say  вчера я прочитал книгу,  it will definitely be understood as if you read it within one day.(yesterday)


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## papillon

But, of course, this is not universal. There are plenty of (typically older) people who consider кончить a perfectly good word. They would say
 кончил(а) читать Жизнь и судьбу
and wouldn't think anything of it...


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## ballena

Setwale_Charm said:


> Not only that . It is also used (although less commonly than *при**кончит*ь) with the meaning of 'do away with', put an end to somebody`s existence. So "*Я кончил книгу"* will sound a bit like you have torn the book to pieces, burnt it or something. *Закончил *is also OK, it is widely used in colloquial Russian and, I guess, will not be considered a mistake even by teachers of Russian. But! that may mean both that you have finished reading and that you have finished writing a book of your own!


It is true that Russians would prefer the word *закончил *instead of the word *кончил *in most situations, and not only because of sexual overtone which this word did acquire recently. I would say that the word *кончил *sounds more colloquial and the word *закончил *is more polished. You can use the word *окончил *as well. But I can assure you nobody will interpret the word *кончить* as *при**кончит*ь. This meaning is used only in a narrow slang context.


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## Setwale_Charm

I thought , sexual connotations only appear when you say just: Я кончил?


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## papillon

Setwale_Charm said:


> I thought , sexual connotations only appear when you say just: Я кончил?


Yeah, but I think the mere fact of having to utter the words "Я кончил" in the phrase Я кончил читать Жизнь и судьбу makes a lot of people (like me  ) a little uncomfortable. I know, it doesn't make too much sense...


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## cyanista

I agree with you, papillon. I also avoid saying "кончил" for the same reason. At school, if a student or a teacher ever said it, it led to bursts of laughter and cheesy jokes. Now that I'm older I actually could use the word (at least with my friends) with no risk of being laughed at but I'm still uncomfortable.


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## Setwale_Charm

papillon said:


> Yeah, but I think the mere fact of having to utter the words "Я кончил" in the phrase Я кончил читать Жизнь и судьбу makes a lot of people (like me  ) a little uncomfortable. I know, it doesn't make too much sense...


 

 Depends what you are thinking of  
But at any rate кончить when together with книга does not give many sexual connotations.  One cannot кончить книгу - that`s a sort of perversion yet unheard of!


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## cyanista

Yeah, S_Charm, it's just that someone would ask papillon "Книгу кончил или на книгу кончил? (Гы-гы-гы!!!)". Or something of the kind. There are lots of idiots out there. Does it make sense now?


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## dec-sev

cyanista said:


> I agree with you, papillon. I also avoid saying "кончил" for the same reason. At school, if a student or a teacher ever said it, it led to bursts of laughter and cheesy jokes. Now that I'm older I actually could use the word (at least with my friends) with no risk of being laughed at but I'm still uncomfortable.




Well, but how would you put it, I mean the word кончить when you use it in a certain sense we are both aware of. For example a patient consults a sexologist and says: “ Doctor, I have a problem… I can’t ….” And he fails to come across the necessary word trying to avoid mentioning  the word «кончить». I think the problem is far-fetched. I mean not that of the patient but linguistic one. I’m an advocate of clear tongue, but this particular word ( it’s second meaning) has fixed into Russian and I think we shouldn’t be shy hearing as well as pronouncing it.


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## Anatoli

Guys, aren't you sick of this topic? There are no learners, just native speakers discussing *кончить*.


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## Setwale_Charm

No, we aren|t Anatoli. We are thriving in the linguistic peculiarities of the language which broadens our horizons. Thanks for you concern


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## Anatoli

I think you all know the peculiarities in questions, what new horizons have you broadened for yourself?


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## papillon

OK, in any event I think we've moved quite off-topic here, which, as we all recall, was how to translate "Yesterday I finished reading a book". I think by now we've had a failry exhaustive survey of different ways to translate this sentence, including the peculiarities of a certain word one might consider using.
May I suggest that if someone is interested in discussing further the double-entendre words and constructions in Russian, that they open a new thread?


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## clapec

Thank you very much for your replies; actually, I was not aware of the sexual connotation of the verb...  !


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## Phillip

what is *кончит* supposed to mean that makes it humorous or being sexually offensive?


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## Setwale_Charm

ehhhmmmm, I guess, gentlemen will be better fit to tell you that . They are somehow always better at these matters. 
 Although I think it is used with regard to women as well.


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## Anatoli

*Кончить *(perfective) and *кончать *(imperfective) without any prefixes also mean "to come" (in a sexual sense). It's not offensive but creates ambiguities in speech, as other users suggested it's best to be avoided, use *закончить *and *заканчивать *instead to express "to finish", "to end".


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## giorgiob

I remember that at the Russian course I attended a couple of years ago, our teacher mentioned the problem to us. She said that we should rather use закончить, because кончить has a sexual connotation. Good to know.


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## morzh

"Кончить" does gave sex. connotation. Only when used as intransitive.
Your teacher was only half right.


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## giorgiob

morzh said:


> "Кончить" does gave sex. connotation. Only when used as intransitive.
> Your teacher was only half right.



Thanks for the additional information.

I think the context was concerning the schedule of our lessons. Therefore:

    Мы начинаем в 6 часов и заканчиваем в 8 часов.

The alternative would have been:

    Мы начинаем в 6 часов и кончаем в 8 часов.

She said the first alternative was better.


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## Maroseika

Depends on the personal taste. For me any кончить with an object sounds normal, and onlu the verb without object may sound ambiguous in some cases. 
However, some people turn red even having heard член Политбюро.


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## giorgiob

> In grammar we speak about gender, not sex.

I think here sex is not meant in a grammatical sense. The verb without prefix refers to a sexual intercourse.


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## morzh

I would also use "заканчиваем" here. 
"кончаем" , firs off, is imperfect verb, and so it has the connotation of "we usually (every time )finish" or "we are finishing", whereas "заканчиваем" has meaning of completion. Still either one usage is possible.
And, of course, if someone is afraid of the scary sexual connotation, "кончать" here is intransitive, and so it may draw some smiles. Whereas "заканчивать " probably won't.

But all in all, "кончить" is, according to dictionaries, usable for almost all situation where you finish/are finishing something.

http://lib.deport.ru/slovar/ojegov/k/konchit.html
http://ru.thefreedictionary.com/кончить


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## Angelo di fuoco

jazyk said:


> I'd personally use читать in the perfective:
> 
> Вчера я прочитал(а) _Жизнь и судьба._


Use the prefix "до" (дочитал finished) instead of про (прочитал means "read from the beginning to the end") and put _Жизнь и судьба_ into the accusative and it'll be perfect.


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## giorgiob

morzh said:


> I would also use "заканчиваем" here.
> "кончаем" , firs off, is imperfect verb, and so it has the connotation of "we usually (every time )finish" or "we are finishing", whereas "заканчиваем" has meaning of completion. Still either one usage is possible.
> And, of course, if someone is afraid of the scary sexual connotation, "кончать" here is intransitive, and so it may draw some smiles. Whereas "заканчивать " probably won't.
> 
> But all in all, "кончить" is, according to dictionaries, usable for almost all situation where you finish/are finishing something.
> 
> http://lib.deport.ru/slovar/ojegov/k/konchit.html
> http://ru.thefreedictionary.com/кончить



Again thanks for the feedback. But to my understanding both заканчиваем and кончаем are imperfective (and therefore denote habit, repeated action). The perfective forms, if I am not mistaken, are закончим and кончим.

I wanted to denote habit (we finish every week at 8 o' clock) and, as far as I understand, both заканчиваем and кончаем convey this meaning.


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## Natalisha

giorgiob said:


> I wanted to denote habit (we finish every week at 8 o' clock) and, as far as I understand, both заканчиваем and кончаем convey this meaning.


Yes, but I would *never* use the second!


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## morzh

giorgiob said:


> Again thanks for the feedback. But to my understanding both заканчиваем and кончаем are imperfective (and therefore denote habit, repeated action). The perfective forms, if I am not mistaken, are закончим and кончим.
> 
> I wanted to denote habit (we finish every week at 8 o' clock) and, as far as I understand, both заканчиваем and кончаем convey this meaning.



Yes, I am not saying "заканчиваем" is perfect - it has the connotation of completion, being near the end. It literally means "wrapping up". That is imperfect that means the end of imperfect action.


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## giorgiob

Yes, that's true: even a verb that denotes completion can have an imperfective aspect


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## VitalinaT

Вчера я закончила читать...
Вчера я окончила чтение...
Вчера я дочитала... (i'm sure about these)


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## Explorer41

clapec said:


> Thank you very much for your replies; actually, I was not aware of the sexual connotation of the verb...  !


Neither was I. I'm sorry, but in my view the above discussion is called "морочить голову"... Some people may well have their own preferences, but they are in no way general rules.


morzh said:


> "Кончить" does gave sex. connotation. Only when used as intransitive.


Surely it doesn't. At least, it may do no more than "подстилка". And probably less than, say, "функция-член" ("member function") — and the latter term is used very well despite of its problems; it turns out that its problems are not so hard. Of course it's no good to ban essential Russian words owing to some casual circumstances.

- Да, и ещё раз: не забудь про Тимофея!
- Слушай, кончай нудить!
- Ладно-ладно, кончил.

"Вчера до обеда я забил шесть гвоздей, и потом долго колотил ещё вечером, кончил только после девятнадцатого"

"Да я недолго вчера смотрел телевизор — как начал, так и кончил"

И где здесь коннотация?

========

So, "вчера я кончил(а) читать книгу 'Жизнь и судьба'" is fine with me. At least better than "вчера я окончил(а) чтение 'Жизни и судьбы'"


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## morzh

O! Древности.

Я сужу по обилию шуток и анекдотов на ету тему, а так же по обилию (другого слова не подберу) казалось бьi, совершенно неспровоцированньiх реакций на употребление "кончить" в ну любьiх контекстах.

А так, конечно, что ж, в свое время (не столь давно) у слова "gay" никаких таких коннотаций не бьiлo.


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## Explorer41

Кроме чисто субъективных причин для моих высказываний (а именно, что я не вижу и не чувствую никаких отличий в глаголе "кончить" от остальных глаголов русского языка — комментарии выше удивили меня очень сильно), есть также (более-менее) объективные. А именно:


morzh said:


> O! Древности.
> 
> Я сужу по обилию шуток и анекдотов на ету тему,


Ну, шутки шутками, а жизнь жизнью. Никто ведь не воспринимает, наверно, Эйфелеву башню как фаллический символ — несмотря на существование шуток подобного рода. Я подозреваю, кстати, что эти шутки шутятся ограниченным кругом людей.


> а так же по обилию (другого слова не подберу) казалось бьi, совершенно неспровоцированньiх реакций на употребление "кончить" в ну любьiх контекстах.


Раз Вы так говорите, значит, видимо, такие реакции действительно где-то присутствуют в большом количестве. Что ж, в таком случае этот факт должен быть отмечен в треде. Но дело в том, что реакции, про которые Вы говорите, не является в полной мере составной частью русского языка — скорее, они лежат на его границах и принадлежат лишь определённым контекстам (вот и для Вас реакции являются "казалось бы, неспровоцированными"); слово "контекст" может пониматься широко, в него может входить и состояние сознания говорящих. А из этого треда у читателя может сложиться мнение, будто бы глагол "кончать" — какой-то заклеймлённый в русском языке. Мнение, очень далёкое от действительности. Чрезвычайно далёкое.


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## morzh

Да ради Бога. Я ни в коем случае не приписьiваю заклеймления глаголу. Просто предупреждаю человека, что ето - одно из слов, реакцию на которое она может попросту не понять. Чтобьi бьiло понятно, отчего на лицах собеседников появляются ухмьiлки.

Ето конкретное слово просто вот почему-то ну очень часто вьiзьiвает такую реакцию. И не то, чтобьi "в моем кругу" (ето легче всего сказать) - я ето много где и часто видел. Потому и предупреждаю.

Народ у нас такой.....смешливьiй.


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## Sempra

Explorer41 said:


> Neither was I. I'm sorry, but in my view the above discussion is called "морочить голову"... Some people may well have their own preferences, but they are in no way general rules.So, "вчера я кончил(а) читать книгу 'Жизнь и судьба'" is fine with me. At least better than "вчера я окончил(а) чтение 'Жизни и судьбы'"


I am absolutely agree."Кончила читать", "окончила читать" are both correct in this case. Some other versions look quite strange.


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## Syline

morzh said:


> Ето конкретное слово просто вот почему-то ну очень часто вьiзьiвает такую реакцию. И не то, чтобьi "в моем кругу" (ето легче всего сказать) - я ето много где и часто видел. Потому и предупреждаю.


Так и есть. Поэтому я сама никогда не использую этот глагол во избежание улыбок/ухмылок в лучшем случае и всяких колкостей в худшем. А будут они в в 90% случаев при общении с людьми моложе 40.



Sempra said:


> I am absolutely agree."Кончила читать", "окончила читать" are both correct in this case. Some other versions look quite strange.


 "окончила читать" is incorrect (needs confirmation)


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## Explorer41

Syline said:


> Так и есть. Поэтому я сама никогда не использую этот глагол во избежание улыбок/ухмылок в лучшем случае и всяких колкостей в худшем. А будут они в в 90% случаев при общении с людьми моложе 40.


Такое впечатление, что я в другой Вселенной живу... *Гвоздь*, теперь я понимаю вас!

Надеюсь, глагол "начинать" не вызывает ни у кого "левых" ассоциаций? Например, здесь: "Красил он забор всю неделю. Во вторник начал, в воскресенье кончил". Если по-моему, то — абсолютно нормальная фраза, если, конечно, нет того, что называется "totalement obsédé".


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## Syline

Explorer41 said:


> Такое впечатление, что я в другой Вселенной живу... *Гвоздь*, теперь я понимаю вас!


Все-таки я себя поправлю. В одном случае глагол "кончить" звучит вполне благопристойно ) Это когда он стоит в императиве. Например, "кончайте ругаться", да даже просто "кончай уже" вообще не вызывают никаких левых ассоциаций.


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## JULLIA

Вчера я закончила чтение книги (романа) "Жизнь и судьба". Вчера я закончила читать роман (книгу) "Жизнь и судьба". 
Слово (глагол) "кончить" употребляется редко (неофициально). Есть пословица "Кончил дело, гуляй смело". Или выражение "он конченный" (он отпетый негодяй, никуда не годный, плохой)


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## morzh

Explorer41 said:


> Такое впечатление, что я в другой Вселенной живу... *Гвоздь*, теперь я понимаю вас!
> 
> Надеюсь, глагол "начинать" не вызывает ни у кого "левых" ассоциаций? Например, здесь: "Красил он забор всю неделю. Во вторник начал, в воскресенье кончил". Если по-моему, то — абсолютно нормальная фраза, если, конечно, нет того, что называется "totalement obsédé".



Explorer

Такое ощущение, что Вас ето обижает. Ну, может, Ваше окружение - сплошной рафинад  ну, повезло Вам. Ну, или, бьiвают компании, где, даже если что-то многим смешно, в етой конкретной компании считается моветоном ето показьiвать.

Ну, слову неможно не повезло. Бьiвает. Во всех, кстарти, язьikах. Аллах с ним.


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## Syline

С глаголом "кончить" та же история, что и с глаголом "трахнуть". Не повезло обоим, хорошо начали, но плохо кончили )


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## gvozd

Young, dumb and full of come И в английском есть такие словечки


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## gvozd

Еще есть глагол "спускать".


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## Manuel Lucero

Вчера я закончила (читать) "Жизнь и судьбу" or "Вчера я закончила (читать) книгу "Жизнь и судьба". "Кончила" does not sound good to me either, and I would never say that. It is probably because of the other meaning of the word "кончить": "to come, to have an orgasm".


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## alexander.k07

Для меня _Вчера я (за)кончил читать_ звучит странно, и всяческие коннотации по поводу бесприставочного варианта глагола тут не причём. Звучит так, словно прочитать эту книгу было неким заданием. Сейчас трудно сообразить, как я всё время вербализирую этот факт, но, наверное, я скажу, что я _*до*_читал книгу.


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## Syline

alexander.k07 said:


> Звучит так, словно прочитать эту книгу было неким заданием.


Ну, может, это так и есть.


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## morzh

Я вообще никогда не говорю "закончил читать."
Я всегда говорю "Я дочитал".


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