What is a good translation to "end up" somewhere?

Question

How can I be able to express that something will "end up" in a particular place or situation?

For example:

"If you keep getting in trouble, you may end up in jail."
"With good marks, you may end up studying in Harvard."
"You'll end up in the hospital if you don't keep your seatbelt on."

Is there a way to express this in French, or is it entirely dependent on the situation?

jlliagre · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-10T16:29:43.953

15

Le plus souvent, on utilise simplement finir pour « end up ».

If you keep getting in trouble, you may end up in jail.

Tu risques de finir/de te retrouver en prison.
With good marks, you may end up studying in Harvard.

…, tu finiras/réussira peut-être par/à étudier à Harvard
You'll end up in the hospital if you don't keep your seatbelt on.

Tu finiras/termineras à l'hopital si…

edited May 10 '14 at 16:29

answered May 25 '12 at 05:42

jlliagre

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« Réussir par étudier » ça me semble douteux, ça mériterait une petite correction il me semble. – Stéphane Gimenez May 10 '14 at 14:32
@StéphaneGimenez plus que douteux en effet, merci. – jlliagre May 10 '14 at 16:32

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:38

You could use se retrouver in a lot of places where you say end up in English.

Si tu n'arrêtes pas tes bêtises, tu vas te retrouver en prison!

Vous allez vous retrouver à l'hôpital si vous ne bouclez pas votre ceinture.

I think this is more often used with a negative/unwanted place/situation to end up in, probably a bit more so than how you use to end up in English.
In speech, you can even go for a bit of redundancy to mark your point:

Si tu continues à avoir de si bonnes notes, tu vas finir par te retrouver à Harvard!

(Even if the outcome is, in fact, desirable, which I presume is the case above.)

The above is slightly informal. In more formal contexts, simply using the verb finir, suitably conjugated, will work just fine as jlliagre mentions.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 03 '12 at 23:01

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Aboutir is actually the verb you are looking for in this case.

Ex: Si tu ne respectes pas les lois, tu va aboutir en prison.

answered Jun 03 '12 at 23:01

stefgosselin

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The verb is a good suggestion, however the example sounds a bit odd. Maybe it's because aboutir is in a quite high langage level (or register) and the example used would suggest a more common register, if not slang. Good answer nonetheless. – Romain Valeri May 11 '14 at 00:20

What is a good translation to "end up" somewhere?

3 Answers3