Today’s Spanish word of the day is “final”.
It usually translates as “final” or “end”. Like the English word “final”, it can be used as an adjective or noun depending on the context.
When used as an adjective, “final” is used in a similar way to English “final”, except that it comes after the noun:
- La etapa final. – The final stage.
Confusingly, Spanish “final” can be either masculine or feminine when used as a noun. The meaning and usage are slightly different depending on whether it’s used as a masculine or feminine noun.
As a masculine noun, it means “end”, “ending” or “finale”:
- El final de a la película. – The end/ending of the movie.
- El final del concierto fue spectacular. – The finale of the concert was spectacular.
As a feminine noun, it refers to the final game of tournaments:
- El equipo llegó a la final del campeonato. – The team reached the final of the championship.
Both English and Spanish “final” come from the Latin word finalis. This is one of the hundreds of words that are spelled identically in both English and Spanish. Other examples include “idea”, “doctor” and “error”.
The pronunciation is quite different though. In Spanish “final”, the stress is on the second syllable, and both vowels are pronounced differently to in English.
Example sentences
El final de la película fue inesperado.
The end of the movie was unexpected.
La decisión final será tomada mañana.
The final decision will be made tomorrow.
La final del campeonato será el próximo domingo.
The championship final will be next Sunday.
Al final, todo salió bien.
In the end, everything turned out well.
Esta es la versión final del documento.
This is the final version of the document.