Quick answer
Acabar de + infinitive marks a very recent action; deixar de + infinitive marks stopping or failing to act.
A reliable test is to identify the job of the word before translating from English.
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What each word does
acabar de
to have just done
Use acabar de for an action completed very recently.
deixar de
to stop or fail to do
Use deixar de for ending a habit or not carrying out an expected action.
How to choose
- acabar de: Choose acabar de if the sentence points to an action completed very recently.
- deixar de: Choose deixar de if the sentence points to ending a habit or not carrying out an expected action.
Examples
Acabei de chegar.
I have just arrived.
Ela deixou de fumar no ano passado.
She stopped smoking last year.
Common trap
The small preposition changes the timeline completely: acabei de trabalhar means I just worked; deixei de trabalhar means I stopped working.
Practice it in context
Pick one sentence from your real life and write it twice: once with acabar de, then once with deixar de. If both versions feel possible, name the meaning shift.
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