# Acabar , acabar de + infinitive, acabarse



## zeppo

1)  Yo acabado el libro.            I finished the book.

2)  Yo ha acabado el libro.        I have finished the book.

3)  Yo acabo del libro.              I have just finished the book.

4)  Se me ha acabado el libro.   ????

I was trying to sort these out in my mind when I randomly came across the last phrase (#4) with a google search.

Are all of the above correct, and what is the translation and usage of example #4? I assume it is a conjugation of acabarse instead of acabar, correct?  Yet my familiarity with acabarse is more in the sense of "running out" of something, such as food.  I don't think of "running out" of a book.

Thanks,
Zeppo


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> 1)  Yo acabado acabé el libro.            I finished the book.
> 
> 2)  Yo ha he acabado el libro.        I have finished the book.
> 
> 3)  Yo acabo del acabo de terminar el libro.              I have just finished the book.
> 
> 4)  Se me ha acabado el libro.   ????
> 
> I was trying to sort these out in my mind when I randomly came across the last phrase (#4) with a google search.
> 
> Are all of the above correct, and what is the translation and usage of example #4? I assume it is a conjugation of acabarse instead of acabar, correct?  Yet my familiarity with acabarse is more in the sense of "running out" of something, such as food.  I don't think of "running out" of a book.
> 
> Thanks,
> Zeppo


You're right, but that is another way of saying the same:
I've just finished the book.


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## zeppo

Thanks.  

I noted the use of "acabar de terminar de" before, and thought I wrote it down wrong.    Now I understand.   This seems like a good phrase for Arnold Schwartzenegger:    Acabo de terminar el niño.

Moving on...


Ella acabó cantando en un club nocturno.   
Ella acabó de cantar en un club nocturno.    

Do these translate the exact same way? :    She ended up singing in a nightclub.

thanks


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I noted the use of "acabar de terminar de" before, and thought I wrote it down wrong.    Now I understand.   This seems like a good phrase for Arnold Schwartzenegger:    Acabo de terminar el niño.
> 
> Moving on...
> 
> 
> Ella acabó cantando en un club nocturno.   She ended up singing in a nightclub.
> Ella acabó de cantar en un club nocturno.    She stopped singing in a nightclub.
> 
> Do these translate the exact same way? :    She ended up singing in a nightclub.
> 
> thanks


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## zeppo

Thanks, Agró.

In that case, I must ask if the following both translate as "She ended up singing in a nightclub." :

Ella acabó cantando en un club nocturno.      
Ella acabó por cantar en un club nocturno.


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> Thanks, Agró.
> 
> In that case, I must ask if the following both translate as "She ended up singing in a nightclub." :
> 
> Ella acabó cantando en un club nocturno.
> Ella acabó por cantar en un club nocturno.


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## zeppo

Okay, thanks, Agró.  This verb is making my head spin.


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> 3) Yo acabo del acabo de terminar el libro. I have just finished the book..



Here you have corrected the Spanish to match the English translation.

But to clarify my understanding of this verb, is 

"Yo acabo del libro"

a grammatically correct sentence, although translating to something else?

Or is it not a grammatically correct sentence that would be spoken or normally used in Spanish?

thanks for any clarification.

Zeppo


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> Here you have corrected the Spanish to match the English translation.
> 
> But to clarify my understanding of this verb, is
> 
> "Yo acabo del libro"
> 
> a grammatically correct sentence, although translating to something else?
> 
> Or is it not a grammatically correct sentence that would be spoken or normally used in Spanish?
> 
> thanks for any clarification.
> 
> Zeppo


_Yo acabo el libro_ would be correct (eg _Acabo el libro en un par de horas y te lo devuelvo_)
_Yo acabo *del* libro_ makes no sense.


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## zeppo

Ok, thanks for all your help.  One more set of examples for good measure (in this case when cleaning around the house):

Yo acabé las ventanas.                    I finished the windows.
Yo he acabado las ventanas.             I have finished the windows.
Yo acabo de terminar las ventanas.    I have just finished the windows.

okay?


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## zeppo

zeppo said:


> Ok, thanks for all your help. One more set of examples for good measure (in this case when cleaning around the house):
> 
> Yo acabé las ventanas. I finished the windows.
> Yo he acabado las ventanas. I have finished the windows.
> Yo acabo de terminar las ventanas. I have just finished the windows.
> 
> okay?



Oh, and three more as well:

Acabo terminandolo. I finally finished it.
Acabo de terminarlo. I just finished it.
Lo he acabado. I've finished it.

Would each of the above be correct?


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> Oh, and three more as well:
> 
> Acabo terminandolo. I finally finished it. (Por fin/Finalmente lo he acabado/lo acabé)
> Acabo de terminarlo. I just finished it. (I've _just _finished it)
> Lo he acabado. I've finished it.
> 
> Would each of the above be correct?


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## zeppo

4) Se me ha acabado el libro.



Agró said:


> You're right, but that is another way of saying the same:
> I've just finished the book.



Getting back to this...

Juan is a student is taking a three month long course and has been assigned to read a book sometime by the end of the course.  Another student walks up to him in the library where he is reading with a Kindle, but you cannot tell what book is being read.   Juan replies:

"Se me ha acabado el libro."

Is there something about the use of the reflexive that would indicate Juan has "just" finished the book (at that moment) as opposed to "I have finished the book" (which could have been at anytime in the past-- for example, a week prior?)


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## Agró

I'm not sure I fully understand the situation.

If Juan has just finished reading the book, he would say: Acabo de terminar (de leer) el libro.
If he finished reading it some time ago, he might say: Ya terminé/acabé (de leer) el libro.

I don't see how one would use the pronoun 'se':
Se ha acabado el libro: The book has run out/The book ran out.


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> I'm not sure I fully understand the situation.
> 
> If Juan has just finished reading the book, he would say: Acabo de terminar (de leer) el libro.
> If he finished reading it some time ago, he might say: Ya terminé/acabé (de leer) el libro.
> 
> I don't see how one would use the pronoun 'se':
> Se ha acabado el libro: The book has run out/The book ran out.



If you look at my opening question in this thread, you will notice that it didn't make sense to me either, yet I saw that sentence used somewhere.  You replied in the second post of this thread :

"You're right, but that is another way of saying the same:
I've just finished the book."

After spending more time studying this verb, I only now have come to question your answer.  At the time, perhaps you didn't have your full attention or focus on what I was asking, because now you seem to share my confusion in regards to this use of "Se ha acabado el libro."  Would you now revise your answer in your initial post (#2?)  

Believe me, I am not in anyway asking just to nitpick mistakes (if one was made), I am very appreciative of your timely responses.  They have been great.


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## zeppo

Here is an example I just found with Google in a review of "El Mundo" by Juan Jose Millas:

"Es una novela bastante corta y muy bien escrita, de esas que dejan “algo” una vez que se ha acabado el libro."


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## Agró

OK, I see, I think. I was sharing your confusion about "Se ha acabado el libro"/The book has run out (which is, I think, as senseless in English as it is in Spanish), and "Se *me *ha acabado el libro", which is something a bit different (The book is over for me = I have nothing else to read from that book).

You can use the latter, though a bit unusual, meaning "I've finished the book".

"...una vez que se ha acabado el libro." : once/after the book has been read/finished.


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> OK, I see, I think. I was sharing your confusion about "Se ha acabado el libro"/The book has run out (which is, I think, as senseless in English as it is in Spanish), and "Se *me *ha acabado el libro", which is something a bit different (The book is over for me = I have nothing else to read from that book).
> 
> You can use the latter, though a bit unusual, meaning "I've finished the book".
> 
> "...una vez que se ha acabado el libro." : once/after the book has been read/finished.



I'm sorry, I gave a bad example above with the review of "El Mundo".  Did not use "me."

Here is a proper example (albeit whether or not grammatically correct I do not know):

"Me ha gustado muchísimo, me he quedado esperando algo más, porque se me ha acabado el libro muy rápido, así que como muchos de los que han escrito he tenido que buscar más información y fotos de Tiwanacu, los quipus, etc. "


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## zeppo

and one more:

"Pues empecé a leerlos en el tren, ese mismo día. Y hoy ha sido el viaje de tren más aburrido en mucho tiempo. Se me ha acabado el libro antes de subir al tren. Mucho antes de subir al tren."


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## Agró

"...porque se me ha acabado el libro muy rápido".

Correct. 
The use of "me" emphasizes the idea that finishing the book was somehow disappointing, as the reader was enjoying it very much, but the underlying message is that the reader read the book rapidly.


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> "Se *me *ha acabado el libro", which is something a bit different (The book is over for me = I have nothing else to read from that book).
> 
> You can use the latter, though a bit unusual, meaning "I've finished the book".
> 
> "...una vez que se ha acabado el libro." : once/after the book has been read/finished.



So I can eliminate the word "just " from the translation, correct?  This is what prompted me to come back to this.  After studying more, I realized I couldn't come to terms with the word "just" as part of the translation in this case, and so I needed to resolve it in my head.     This verb has so many variations of use that sorting them all out can be difficult, with recurring oversights that so easily occur it becomes a tangled web I keep working to unravel.  I believe I see light at the end of the tunnel, however.  I am just cleaning up a few points in my head.  Thanks!


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> "...porque se me ha acabado el libro muy rápido".
> 
> Correct.
> The use of "me" emphasizes the idea that finishing the book was somehow disappointing, as the reader was enjoying it very much, but the underlying message is that the reader read the book rapidly.



Yes, that makes sense.  We say this in English all the time, expressing "the book/story went by quickly." (was a "page-turner.")


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## zeppo

Agró said:


> "...porque se me ha acabado el libro muy rápido".
> 
> Correct.
> The use of "me" emphasizes the idea that finishing the book was somehow disappointing, as the reader was enjoying it very much, but the underlying message is that the reader read the book rapidly.



or as with the second example, in English we might similarly say something like:

I sat down at noon and started reading my book.  The book was finished before my train arrived.  I loved it!


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## juandiego

Hi zeppo.

You could say _Se me ha acabado el libro_ and you are right that it connotes very recently or just in that moment. That construction with the pronoun, in a way, conveys the book finishes itself (subject=object) and you are, by means of that pronoun _me_, the one affected by the action.


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## zeppo

juandiego said:


> Hi zeppo.
> 
> You could say _Se me ha acabado el libro_ and you are right that it connotes very recently or just in that moment.



What about in this scenerio, then?"

     ¿Ha leído usted Don Quixote? 
     Sí, el año pasado.   _Se me había acabado el libro.  _Es un libro maravilloso.


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## juandiego

zeppo said:


> What about in this scenerio, then?"
> 
> ¿Ha leído usted Don Quixote?
> Sí, el año pasado.   _Se me había acabado el libro.  _Es un libro maravilloso.


No en ese contexto, zeppo.
 De todos modos la frase puede referirse a un pasado lejano pero si se refiere a algo que acaba de suceder en el pasado. Por ejemplo:
_Se me *había acabado* el libro justo el día que cumplí quince años_.


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## zeppo

juandiego said:


> No en ese contexto, zeppo.
> De todos modos la frase puede referirse a un pasado lejano pero si se refiere a algo que acaba de suceder en el pasado. Por ejemplo:
> _Se me acabó el libro justo el día que cumplí quince años_.



I'm sorry.  I am having some trouble translating your spanish.

But here is the English version of what I was trying to say:

Have you read Don Quixote?

Yes, last year.  The book went by quickly for me.  It is a marvelous book.

I had also wondered if I might have used "Se me hubó acabado el libro."

I am trying to distinguish if there is something about the use of the reflexive itself that relegates this phrasing to the immediate or recent past, or if it is simply because I had used the present tense "ha."


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## juandiego

zeppo said:


> I'm sorry.  I am having some trouble translating your spanish.
> 
> But here is the English version of what I was trying to say:
> 
> Have you read Don Quixote?
> 
> Yes, last year.  *The book went by quickly for me*.  It is a marvelous book.
> Now I see.
> Well, yes, you are right, it could be: _El libro se me acabó rápido_. Good point.
> 
> I had also wondered if I might have used "Se me hubó acabado el libro."
> No, you might not, neither _había acabado_ for that meaning; the _pretérito perfecto simple_ is the right choice.
> 
> I am trying to distinguish if there is something about the use of the reflexive itself that relegates this phrasing to the immediate or recent past, or if it is simply because I had used the present tense "ha."
> The second option, zeppo, because of the _pretérito perfecto compuesto_, which, among other usages, is used for a recent past. Some say the pronominal construction may add a perfective nuance to verbs that can be constructed either with and without the pronoun, as this one _acabar(se)_, but the pronoun itself has nothing to do with locating the action in time.


Hope it helps.
By the way, I have just edited my post #26 because I changed the verb to another tense without noticing and subsequently you quoted it.


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## zeppo

Yes that is very helpful, thank you.

One last question that I had actually already posted in another thread but would be just as well posted here in the Grammar Forum instead of vocabulary:

To follow up on the use of acabar de + infinitive...

Is it improper or uncommon usage to use this in the preterite?

I believe perhaps you could use it, but is doesn't translate to "just" as it would in the imperfect. Instead, you might read it as "finished." But I'm not sure of this.

Abacó de leerlo. >>    He finished reading it."     instead of     "He just read it."

Is this true?

Or perhaps you would be more likely to use terminar to express this in the preterite?


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## Agró

zeppo said:


> Yes that is very helpful, thank you.
> 
> One last question that I had actually already posted in another thread but would be just as well posted here in the Grammar Forum instead of vocabulary:
> 
> To follow up on the use of acabar de + infinitive...
> 
> Is it improper or uncommon usage to use this in the preterite?
> 
> I believe perhaps you could use it, but is doesn't translate to "just" as it would in the imperfect. Instead, you might read it as "finished." But I'm not sure of this.
> 
> Abacó A*c*a*b*ó de leerlo. >>    He finished reading it."     instead of     "He just read it."
> 
> Is this true?
> 
> Or perhaps you would be more likely to use terminar to express this in the preterite?


Acabó/Terminó de leerlo y se levantó para marcharse.


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## zeppo

thanks again!


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## zeppo

One more thought:

Yo acabo de comer.   I have just eaten. 

He acabado de comer.   ??

are these the same.

I think they are, but perhaps the first would be the more natural choice?  or no?

and perhaps the second is more likely to be used if, for example, you are already writing a paragraph using the present perfect.?


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## juandiego

> 1.- Yo acabo de comer.
> 2.- He acabado de comer.
> 
> I have just eaten.



The same? well, yes but...

It's hard to tell differences between both constructions and they would be personal interpretations that possibly others may not share. Mine are:
— contrary to what one may initially think, the second is used right at the moment you've finished, whereas the first has a longer lapse of time to be of application.
— The first has a wider scope and is much more used even when you've finished, say, seconds ago and the second would be also appropriate.

Warning!
Be carefull with the first because despite it's in present tense, could be also used to convey immediate future, e.g.:
[A phone call when you are still having your lunch]
— Hi, zeppo, it's me, Juan. Could you, please, give me hand right now?
— O.K., Wait a minute. *Acabo de comer* y voy enseguida a ayudarte.


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## zeppo

Thank you for those distinctions.  They are very helpful.  I am studying "the 50 most used Spanish verbs" and acabar is alphabetically the first.  I've spent a lot of time with it, not only because it has so many uses, but also because much of what I am learning about it will apply to the my understanding of the language in general.  When it comes time to study the next verb, and so on, I will have already covered a lot of the same ground.

The people on this website have been so helpful, I don't know what I would do without you all!     The internet is such an amazing tool!


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## zeppo

juandiego said:


> Hope it helps.
> By the way, I have just edited my post #26 because I changed the verb to another tense without noticing and subsequently you quoted it.



Revisiting this, I found yet another example and I think I finally am getting the choice of the reflexive, depending on whether I am translating this right or not:






"Lo que me gusto mucho tambien fue el final 
lo que me paso despues es que me dio pena porque se me habia acabado el libro. "





The above is just copied from someone's post on a webpage forum so i don't know how grammatically correct it is.  But it seems to indicate to me that you use the choice of the reflexive is made to say that one has finished reading a book but wants to emphasize the impact the act of finishing that book has had on them personally.  You are expressing that you have finished the book, but in the context of the act of doing so having some impact on yourself.

Is that the sense of it?


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## juandiego

First off, zeppo, it's much more precise if you call the verb option constructed with the pronoun as _pronominal_. Not every pronominal verb in Spanish is necessarily reflexive. Reflexive is only when the subject is clearly the same person of the object, therefore the sentence allows to be reinforced with the expression _a sí mismo_ (to oneself) or its equivalent depending on the person, e. g.: _Juan se peina (a si mismo)_; _Tú te lavas la cara (a ti mismo)_;_ Ellos se cuelgan del árbol (a ellos mismos)_. However, you are right that the pronominal construction may add, in a way, some reflexive nuance to verbs which are not reflexive. In other cases the pronominal construction changes the meaning of the verb to another one, as a preposition does to a phrasal verb, so to speak; in other cases it's used for a reciprocal meaning, e.g.: _Nosotros nos intercambiamos los teléfonos el uno al otro (to each other)_; and in other cases it's almost impossible to tell what it adds.


> *verbo pronominal
> *_Gramática_. El que se construye en todas sus formas con un pronombre átono que concuerda con el sujeto y que no desempeña ninguna función sintáctica oracional. Algunos verbos son exclusivamente pronominales, como _arrepentirse_, y otros adoptan determinados matices significativos o expresivos en las formas reflexivas; p. ej., _caer_ o _morir_.
> _Real Academia Española ©_





> But it seems to indicate to me that you use the choice of the reflexive is made to say that one has finished reading a book but *wants to emphasize the impact the act of finishing that book has had on them personally*


_1— Me dio pena porque el libro había acabado
2— Me dio pena porque el libro se había acabado
3— Me dio pena porque el libro se me había acabado
_The #1 states the fact quite clinically, aseptically, just the fact of finishing.
 The #2 is probably spinning a bit the verb meaning towards a self-finishing, as if the book were something alive that came to an end.
The #3 has the nuance of the #2 and in addition what you've said above highlighted in bold; somehow you are the victim of it putting an end to itself.


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## zeppo

Thanks juandiego that was a great lesson and very helpful. The most important thing it reveals to me is that this use of the pronominal is not an exact substitute for "I finished the book" even if the same event is occuring.  This of course seems obvious to a Spanish speaker, but to someone learning the language and a beginner, it is important to convey.    I appreciate your pointing out the distinction between pronominal and reflexive as well.


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## juandiego

One last thing, Zeppo.
When you look up a verb in a Spanish dictionary, care to check out if the verb, or the precise meaning of said verb, you are looking for could or should be constructed in pronominal or it's impossible to be so. This is usually stated by means of abbreviations as *Prnl.* (pronominal) or *U.t.c.Prnl.* (Usado también como pronominal). Check it out for the verbs _acabar_ (#1, #9) and _quejar _in the _Real Acadamia de la Lengua Española_ dictionary.


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