とうとう漢字（かんじ）の勉強（べんきょう）ができる。

とうとう明日（あした）で最後（さいご）だ。

とうとうタバコをやめた。

とうとう休（やす）みだ。

とうとう昼食（ちゅうしょく）の時間（じかん）だ。

それをとうとう捨（す）てた。

とうとう日本（にほん）に着（つ）いた。

とうとう真面目（まじめ）に日本語（にほんご）を勉強（べんきょう）する。

とうとう彼（かれ）は注射（ちゅうしゃ）を打（う）った。

彼（かれ）はとうとう失敗（しっぱい）したと分（わ）かった。

26時間（じかん）もかかったけど、とうとう生（う）まれた。

今日（きょう）痛（いた）みがとうとうなくなった。

いよいよ / やっと / ようやく / ついに and とうとう

Differences in nuances between とうとう and やっと?

<div class='writeup-body'>とうとう is an adverb that is used to express that something 'finally' happens. In Japanese, there are a few ways to do this, but とうとう is one of the more common. Coming from the kanji 到頭（とうとう）, this structure literally means 到 (to arrive at), 頭 (the head of/crux of) something. Due to this, 'finally', and 'after all' are the two most common translations of とうとう. Like many other adverbs in Japanese, とうとう is often used at the beginning of a phrase/sentence.<ul class='writeup-examples--holder'><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>とうとうお前（まえ）が大学生（だいがくせい）か...</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>So you're finally a college student... (After all this time, have you finally become a college student?)</div></li><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>とうとうロシアに行（い）く。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>I will finally go to Russia. (After all this time, I can finally go to Russia)</div></li></ul>While とうとう is written in hiragana the majority of the time, knowing the kanji will help when trying to remember the expression's nuance. That nuance is that something has 'ended', usually after some sort of long journey/effort. This adverb may be used to express either positive or negative outcomes, as it focuses more on the time required to achieve the result, rather than the result being good or bad.<ul class='writeup-examples--holder'><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>とうとう夏休（なつやす）みだ！</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>It's finally summer break! (Good result)</div></li><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>とうとう夏休（なつやす）みが終（お）わる日（ひ）が来（き）た。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>The day that summer break ends has finally arrived. (Bad result)</div></li></ul><div class='writeup-caution'><div class='caution-header'>Caution</div>とうとう is not used in situations where you expect something to happen/start, but there has not actually been a period of time in which some sort of effort was made to achieve a result. A good example of this is the changing of seasons. You might want to say 'finally, it's summer!', but this is not something that anyone has done anything to achieve. Rather, it came naturally. In these cases, いよいよ will be used, and has the nuance of 'finally', or 'at last' (in relation to something starting/happening).<ul class='writeup-examples--holder'><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>いよいよ夏（なつ）来（き）た。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>Finally, summer has come. (Natural Japanese)</div></li></ul></div></div>

Grammar Info

到頭(とうとう)

Finally, After all