Thread: кончить что vs. кончить с чем

Привет

Is there a difference between (for example) "кончить службу" and "кончить с службой" ?

Also I'm not sure wether such a question deserves a new topic of its own, maybe it would be useful to create a specific thread dedicated to short questions expecting short answers ?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Zubr

Привет
Is there a difference between (for example) "кончить службу" and "кончить с службой" ?

1)"(за)кончить с чем-л./кем-л" means "to finish (all relations/a bussiness) with something" while "(за)кончить что-л." means "to finish smth.".
Example:
"Я (за)кончил с ним (пока/на сегодня)." means "I stopped my buissiness with him (for now/for today)".
"Я кончил его." means "I killed him" in slang.

2)Usually "покончить с чем-либо". Sometimes it is almost the same as "кончить что-либо" but more expressive. Something like "Oh, my God! Finally I did it!". Also there is an idiom "покончить с собой" which means to make a suicide.

Спасибо за такой понятный ответ.