Spanish word of the week: acabar

This week’s Spanish word of the week is acabar

Acabar is a verb that means to finish . To hear how acabar is pronounced, you can click the icon below:

¿Todavía no has acabado? Haven’t you finished yet?

When acabar is followed by de and the infinitive it means to finish doing something or to have just done something . The tense of acabar indicates which meaning is intended.

To talk about finishing doing something, you use acabar in the appropriate tense, followed by de and the infinitive:

Ayer acabé de pintar la pared. I finished painting the wall yesterday.
Cuando acabe de escribir este email me iré a dormir. When I finish writing this email I’m going to bed.

In the present or imperfect tense you use it to say that someone has just or had just done something:

Eva acaba de llegar. Eva’s just arrived.
Acabábamos de enterarnos. We had only just found out.

Come back next week to learn a new word!