This shows a bad end result. It means things turned out poorly. You use it when you are unhappy or critical about how something ended.
Verb [dictionary form] + 始末だPrimary
この/その/あの + 始末だ
This shows a bad end result. It means things turned out poorly. You use it when you are unhappy or critical about how something ended.
彼は大事な会議に遅刻し、とうとう資料まで忘れてくる始末だった。
He was late for the important meeting, and to top it all off, he ended up forgetting the materials. What a mess.
うちの猫は、夜中に運動会を始めて、棚の上の花瓶を割ってしまう始末だ。
Our cat starts running around like crazy in the middle of the night and ends up breaking the vase on the shelf.
さんざん迷った挙句に選んだ道が工事中で、結局遠回りする始末だった。
After agonizing over which road to take, the one I chose was under construction, and I ended up having to take a long detour.
部長は自分のミスを部下のせいにする始末で、チームの士気は下がる一方だ。
The department manager goes so far as to blame subordinates for his own mistakes, and as a result, team morale just keeps dropping.
度重なる失敗で、チームはもはや計画を続行できる始末ではない。
Due to repeated failures, the team is no longer in a state where it can possibly continue the project.
This phrase shows you are unhappy. It means things ended badly. You might be upset or annoyed. It is like saying, "Look at this mess!"
〜始末だ is only for bad results. 〜末に can be for good or bad results. 〜あげく shows wasted effort. 〜始末だ focuses on the sad final state. 〜羽目になる means you are stuck in a bad spot. 〜始末だ is a summary of the bad situation.
Don't use this when you talk about bad things that might happen later. For example, you cannot say "明日雨が降る始末だ" (It will rain tomorrow). This grammar is for bad things that are already happening or have finished. The ending word like "です" or "でした" shows if it's happening now or in the past.
Track your mastery
Kumi's KMT system tracks your mastery across kanji, vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Create a free account to use it on 220,000+ concepts.