Ways to say it
| Portuguese | IPA |
|---|---|
| arruinar | /a.ʁu.iˈna(ʁ)/ (Brazil) /a.ʁujˈna(ʁ)/ (Brazil) |
| destruir | /des.tɾuˈi(ʁ)/ (Brazil) /desˈtɾwi(ʁ)/ (Brazil) |
| acabar com | /a.kaˈba(ʁ) kõ/ (Brazil, word by word) |
To spoil or cause ruin, you can use different forms depending on whether the damage is physical or abstract. While arruinar often applies to abstract concepts like lives, plans or reputations, destruir is used when the focus is specifically on physical destruction. If you want to describe a colloquial way of spoiling a mood or a situation, use acabar com. Related to these verbs is the noun ruína, which refers to the remains of a destroyed construction or something that leads to serious troubles.
Which one should you use?
arruinar is used for abstract concepts like reputations or lives, whereas destruir focuses on physical destruction. acabar com is a common colloquial way to say 'to ruin' or 'to finish with' something, particularly when spoiling a mood or a specific situation.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of arruinar is arruinado, which can function as an adjective meaning 'ruined'. If you need to say 'they ruined' in the third-person plural preterite, use arruinaram.
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation of arruinar is /a.ʁu.iˈna(ʁ)/. It has 4 syllables and the stress is on the 4th syllable.
Did you know?
- The English verb 'achieve' is actually a distant relative of the Portuguese 'acabar'. While 'achieve' means to reach a goal, both words stem from the same Vulgar Latin root.
- In Brazil, the colloquial phrase acabar com can be used as a hyperbolic way to say someone is exhausted or 'beaten' by a task.
- Because acabar also means 'to finish', saying acabou in a social context often signals that a relationship is ruined and over for good.
Examples in context
- As drogas podem arruinar a nossa vida.Drugs can ruin your life.This sentence shows how drugs can have a ruinous effect on a life using arruinar.Tatoeba #8482319 by alexmarcelo, translation #1600874 by Spamster
- Isso poderia literalmente arruinar minha vida.That could literally ruin my life.This sentence uses arruinar to express the possibility of a literal ruin of one's life.Tatoeba #7551029 by Ricardo14, translation #3231265 by CK
- Você me arruinará.You will ruin me.This sentence uses arruinar to indicate a future action of ruining someone.Tatoeba #3453816 by piterkeo, translation #3453518 by Olya
- 4 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Felipe and Juliana are talking about a mistake in a project.
- FelipeEu cometi um erro no relatório.I made a mistake in the report.
- JulianaIsso vai arruinar todo o nosso trabalho.That is going to ruin all our work.
- FelipeSerá que podemos consertar agora?Do you think we can fix it now?
- JulianaSim, mas temos que ser rápidos, Felipe.Yes, but we have to be fast, Felipe.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “ruin” translations and entries arruinar, destruir, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (acabar, com) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries acabar, arruinar, com, destruir, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
