Structure
Verb[る] + 始末だ
この始末だ
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About 始末だ
始末, a noun meaning ‘settlement’, or ‘end result’ is commonly used in order to indicate a negative sequence of events that has been passed through, causing an equally negative result to come about at the end. It will be translated as ‘to wind up as (A)’, ‘to end up as (A)’, or ‘to come about that (A)’.
This expression will be used primarily after verbs in their dictionary form.
Due to 始末 being used to highlight negative outcomes that are the result of going through a specific event, it will often appear in sentences that also include words like とうとう ‘to come to a head’, 挙げ句 ‘after a long process’, or 結局 ‘in the end’. It may seem redundant to include these phrases, but as 始末 has the more literal translation of ‘to culminate in’ (including everything from beginning to end), it is more emphatic, rather than redundant.
Examples
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武田さんは小さな声で職場でハラスメントを受けたことを伝えてきて、しまいに大きな声で泣き出す始末だ。
Takeda-san quietly told me that she was being harassed at work, and wound up crying out loud.
あいつは、自分が起こしたミスなのに、謝るどころか私のせいにする始末だ。
Even though it was a mistake that he had made, far from apologizing, he ended up blaming me!
せっかく友達と海へ行く計画を立てたのに、田中は大事な用があって行けないとか、武田もシフトが入ってたとかで、結局私一人だけで行く始末だ。
Even though I went out of my way to plan this trip to the beach with friends, Tanaka said that he had something important to do and couldn't go, while Takeda said that he had a shift. So I ended up going all by myself.
武田「山田さん、顔色が悪いですけど・・・」
山田「夜遅くまでゲームをしていたので、おかげでこの始末だ。」
Takeda: 'Yamada-san, you don't look so good...'
Yamada 'I was playing video games until late at night, and this is the result.'
田中には二度と仕事は頼まないぞ。納期は守らないし仕上がりも悪かったのに、言い訳ばかりならべて。最後には追加の料金を払えと言い出す始末だ。
I'll never ask Tanaka to work for me again. He can't meet deadlines, his workmanship is poor, and he only gives excuse after excuse. In the end he told me to pay an additional fee.
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始末だ – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (3 in total)
andrewkfiedler
Can this ever be past tense? Or only the verb before it becomes past tense?
nekoyama
This way to use 始末 expresses a (bad) final result. It can be in the present (始末だ) when talking about a situation that is still current, and it can be in the past (始末だった) when talking about a situation that existed in the past.
The part before 始末 is generally not in the past when used in the sense of this grammar point regardless of the time of the main clause.
andrewkfiedler
Thanks, yeah, I think what confused me was this sentence:
" プロジェクトを期限内に終えることができなくて、上司の逆鱗に触れてしまう_____"
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