Hello, what is the difference between the verbs acabar and terminar? It seems like they both mean 'to finish', are there any situations in which is using one better than the other?
I would say like 80% of the time theyâre interchangeable, except for when theyâre not.
I would say the main difference is that terminar is âto finishâ, while acabar is more âto bring to an endâ or âto endâ
Typically when youâre talking about tasks or the progression of something, you use terminar
La pelĂcula termina con un final de suspenso. = The movie ends on a cliffhanger.
El tren termina en Madrid. = The train (line) ends in Madrid.
TerminĂŠ mis deberes. = I finished my chores.
No hemos terminado aĂşn. = Weâre not done yet. / We havenât finished yet.
But like I said, there are times when acabar can be used like terminar.
I would personally use la pelĂcula termina but you could say la pelĂcula (se) acaba which is âthe movie ends/finishesâ
You normally see acabar used more idiomatically, like âto endâ or âto end upâ
AcabĂŠ haciendo la mayorĂa yo solo. = I ended up doing the majority of it myself.
Acaba durmiendo en el sofĂĄ. = He/She ended up sleeping on the couch.
El espejo acaba roto. = The mirror ends up broken.
No quiero acabar en la cĂĄrcel. = I donât want to end up in jail.
And acabar has some other meanings, particularly with different prepositions.
acabar con is more like regular terminar and it means âto bring to an endâ, or when used with people it means âto killâ or âto get rid of / to end someoneâ
Quieren acabar con los deberes en casa. = They want to get rid of homework.
Hablan de acabar con los monopolios. = They talk about doing away with monopolies. / They talk about getting rid of monopolies.
No pienso acabar con mi amistad. = Iâm not going to end my friendship.
And with acabar de, this is extremely common for getting the idea of âjustâ across. This is when you âjustâ did something, so itâs got a kind of past tense vibe to it:
Acabo de terminar el proyecto. = I just finished the project.
Acabo de decĂrtelo. = I just told you.
Acabamos de hacer las maletas. = We just packed (our suitcases).
The other common one is acabarse which can be âto endâ or âto come to an endâ, or in some cases it means âto run outâ
Cuando se acabe el tiempo... = Once time runs out...Cuando se nos acabe el tiempo... = Once our time runs out... / Once time runs out on us...
Se acabĂł. = Itâs over. / Itâs done. / Itâs finished.
Quiero que se acabe la guerra. = I want the war to be over.
Aside from the very specific things that are different, theyâre very similar and almost interchangeable to me.Â