Comparing "zongsuan" and “zhongyu"

One of the challenges of intermediate learners of Chinese is that they start to learn words that are pretty similar, but have different uses. One of pair of confusing words is 总算 and 终于.They both can be translated as "in the end", but they are not quite the same. Here we will learn the similarities and differences between the two.

They have the same grammatical structure

总算 and 终于 arte basically used the same way. They are both adverbs, and they can be placed before the subject or after the subject. However, in comparison to 终于, 总算 is seldom used before the subject.

在结构上，“总算”和“终于”的用法是基本一样的，都是副词，用在动词前面，可以在主语前面，也可以在主语后面。但是和“终于”相比，“总算”很少用在主语前面

Subject + 总算/终于 + Verb

Examples

• 你总算来了。
• 你终于来了。

总算 emphasizes subjectivity

Both 总算 and 终于 express an action that happens after a long time, however 总算 implies that the speaker is speaking subjectively, and it has a heavier tone.

在意义上，“总算”和“终于”虽然都表示动作行为在经过很长时间以后得以实现，但是“总算”侧重于表达说话者主观上的愿望的实现，听起来语气较重。

Examples

• 谢天谢地，你 总算 来 了。
• 总算 没 迟到。
• 她 的 感冒 总算 好 了。

终于 can emphasizes objectivity or subjectivity

终于 is more formal than 总算 (in other words, 送算 is more for spoken Chinese), and it also has an objective feel or a subjective feel, depending on the context of the sentence.

在意义上，“总算”和“终于”虽然都表示动作行为在经过很长时间以后得以实现，但是“终于”既可以表达主观希望也可以用作客观陈述，比“总算”正式。

• 终于 离婚 了，你 很 高兴 是 不 是？
• 两 年 以后，这 个 项目 终于 完成 了。
• 你 终于 决定 不 去 留学 了？

Sources and further reading

Books

• 现代汉语八百词（增订本） (终于p. 687) →buy

• 现代汉语虚词例释 (终于p. 653)

→buy

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (总算1814 终于1767) →buy

HSK4