acabar por + Infinitive
End Up Doing
Use 'acabar por + infinitive' to say what someone 'ends up doing'.
How It Works
Acabar por + infinitive presents an action as the eventual outcome of a process: Acabé por aceptar (I ended up accepting). Conjugate acabar and keep the next verb in the infinitive.
The preceding events may involve hesitation, pressure, or an unexpected result, but deliberate choice is not required: Si sigues así, acabarás por perderlo (If you carry on like that, you will end up losing it).
Acabar + gerund and terminar por + infinitive can express a similar final outcome. Context supplies any sense of deliberation or surprise; do not treat a conscious decision as a fixed difference between acabó por renunciar and acabó renunciando.
Compare acabar de + infinitive, which can mean that an action has just happened: Acabo de llegar (I have just arrived). Acabé por llegar describes eventually arriving, not necessarily arriving a moment ago.
Examples (5)
- Después de mucho discutir, acabaron por aceptar mi propuesta.
After arguing a lot, they ended up accepting my proposal.
Word by Word: After of much discussing, they ended by to accept my proposal.
- No sabía qué película ver y acabé por no ver ninguna.
I didn't know which movie to watch and I ended up not watching any.
Word by Word: I didn't know what movie to watch and I ended by not to watch any.
- Tanto insistió que acabé por prestarle el dinero.
He insisted so much that I ended up lending him the money.
Word by Word: So much he insisted that I ended by to lend him the money.
- Si sigues conduciendo tan rápido, acabarás por tener un accidente.
If you keep driving so fast, you'll end up having an accident.
Word by Word: If you continue driving so fast, you will end by to have an accident.
- Al principio no me gustaba, pero acabé por cogerle cariño.
At first I didn't like him, but I ended up growing fond of him.
Word by Word: At the beginning not to me he was pleasing, but I ended by to get him affection.
Common Mistakes
Using acabar por when you mean you have just done something.
Different Meaning¿Ya te vas? ¡Pero si acabas por llegar!¿Ya te vas? ¡Pero si acabas de llegar!Acabas por llegar is a good sentence, but it means you end up arriving after a process. To say you just arrived, use acabar de + infinitive: acabas de llegar.
Omitting the preposition 'por'.
Tras horas de estudio, acabé entender el problema.Tras horas de estudio, acabé por entender el problema.The preposition 'por' is essential to this construction. Without it, the sentence is grammatically incorrect. An alternative is to use the gerund: 'acabé entendiendo el problema'.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To learn 'acabar por + infinitive', a learner needs to be able to conjugate the verb 'acabar' in various tenses (starting with the present) and understand how prepositions like 'por' can change the meaning of a verb when followed by an infinitive.
- porPor Uses
This pattern uses the preposition 'por' as a functional marker to link the verb 'acabar' with the following infinitive.
Level 2 - acabar de + InfinitiveJust Did
Understanding the basic use of 'acabar' in verbal periphrases helps the learner distinguish between 'just doing' (acabar de) and 'ending up doing' (acabar por).
Level 1
Related Patterns
- llegar a + InfinitiveManage To/Come to
Similar in that it can describe reaching an outcome ('to manage to' or 'to come to'). However, 'llegar a' often implies overcoming a significant hurdle or reaching a notable state, while 'acabar por' focuses more on the final action in a sequence of events.
Level 5 - dejar de + InfinitiveStop Doing
This periphrasis means 'to stop doing' something. It's a useful contrast to 'acabar por', as one describes the cessation of an action and the other describes the final resulting action.
Level 5 - ponerse a + InfinitiveStart Doing (Suddenly)
This means 'to start doing' something, often suddenly. It represents the beginning of an action, making it the conceptual opposite of 'acabar por', which signifies the conclusion.
Level 5 - venir a + InfinitiveTurn Out to
This can mean 'to turn out to be' or 'to end up being', which is semantically close to 'acabar por'. For example, 'Vino a ser lo mismo' (It turned out to be the same thing). It often describes a resulting state or equivalence rather than a final action.
Level 6
Words in This Pattern
Practice acabar por + Infinitive in Bubblegum
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