acabar de + Infinitive

Acabar De for Recent Completion

Level 3

Acabar de + infinitive places a completed action just before the current reference point.

How It Works

Acabo d'arribar means I have just arrived. The finite form of acabar sets the reference time; the infinitive names the completed action. With a past reference, acabava d'arribar means I had just arrived.

Keep de between the verbs, eliding it before a vowel: acabar d'escriure. This recent-completion reading differs from literally finishing an activity, although the two meanings can overlap. Context distinguishes acabo de llegir el llibre as having just read it or finishing its reading.

Negation can change the interpretation: no acabo d'entendre-ho often means I do not quite understand it, rather than I have not just understood it. Learn that as a separate idiomatic use. For repetition after a completed action, tornar a is the relevant construction, not acabar de.

Examples (3)

  1. Acabo d'arribar a casa.

    I have just arrived home.

  2. Acabaven de sortir quan vas trucar.

    They had just gone out when you called.

  3. La reunió acaba d'acabar.

    The meeting has just ended.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

acabar de + InfinitiveLevel 3Acabar De for Recent Completion

Learn This First

Elide de before a vowel-initial infinitive.

Words in This Pattern

acabar