This is the End, Beautiful Friend

Various bits of vocabulary relating to things happening finally, at long last or in the end. I sometimes pick the wrong one. I don’t want to screw it up so I am just going to plunder the internet for examples instead of inventing any. As a basis, I have copied a lot of examples from the very helpful but slightly mind-blowing answer on this page so unless otherwise stated, that’s where they are all from, but I’ve added some other words that seem like they’re in the same area

Por fim – used to present the final result of an account: “Disse, por fim, que tudo tinha corrido tudo bem”. This seems to be pretty similar to a locution like “em resumo”

No fim – used to summarise something “Ele é muito discreto, mas, no fim, só procura a máxima diversão.” In english we might use “basically” or “deep down”

No final – a bit more straightforwardly “at the end” of something: “Ele estava no final de carreira.”

Em fim – can be synonymous with “no final de” when discussing time passing, but can also be used to discuss position in space “fica em fim da rua”. No fim can also be used to be more specific

Ao fim – used to discuss arrival at the end of a road, say. Whether you use em or a or some other preposition will depend on the verb.

No fim – similar to no final – “No fim de tanto esforço, nada conseguimos” – no final would work just as well in this sentence

Enfim is essentially em and fim glued together but it’s not a contraction in the way that “pelo” or “noutra” are; it’s an adverb that’s more or less equal to finalmente: “Chegou enfim a chuva” (from here), and it can also be used in conversation when you want to sum things up and get down to brass tacks: “Enfim, como dizem na Guerra das Estrelas, que a força esteja contigo!” (from here)

Finalmente – Finally, as in “Thank god, finally there’s an easy word to define”

Afinal – In the end. It seems to be often (but not exclusively) used at the start of the sentence, because it has a sort of summing-up effect, a bit like “at the end of the day” in english. ATEOTD is not a phrase I’m a huge fan of, but there are people who scatter it about like parmesan at an italian restaurant run by mice and my sense is that when they do it they’re more-or-less saying “afinal”.

No fim das contas or No final das contas or No fim de contas or even, god help us, Afinal de contas – there seem to be a few versions of this used by portuguese speakers and I’m sure I’ve used them all at one time or another but “no fim de contas” is the only one Priberam recognises and that’s good enough for me – it’s something like “When all is said and done” or “In the long run”: “No fim de contas, os principais ganhos em termos de desenvolvimento resultarão de uma abertura ambiciosa do comércio”