After all that: 〜あげく
Verb-た / N の + あげく（に）／あげくの果て（に）
Verb-た / N の + あげく: after a long, painful process, you end up with an unfortunate outcome. あげくの果てに = “and to top it all”. For a good outcome, it's 末に.
In short
〜あげく relates a long, painful process (dithering, arguing, waiting) that ends in a disappointing or unfortunate outcome: “after lengthy…, in the end…”. The tone is often irritated or disillusioned. あげくの果てに goes one further: “and to top it all”.
- さんざん迷ったあげく、何も買わなかった。さんざんまよったあげく、なにもかわなかった。After dithering for ages, I ended up buying nothing.
- 一時間も待たされたあげく、「今日は売り切れです」と言われた。いちじかんもまたされたあげく、「きょうはうりきれです」といわれた。After making me wait a whole hour, they told me, “We're sold out for today.”
- 長い口げんかのあげく、二人は別れてしまった。ながいくちげんかのあげく、ふたりはわかれてしまった。After a long argument, the two of them ended up splitting up.
The basics
あげく refers to the end point of a long series of efforts, hassles or hesitations, and that end point is bad, absurd or disappointing. The speaker passes judgement: “all that for this”.
So the first part describes a duration or a repetition (さんざん, 何度も, 長い間, 一時間も), and the second an unfortunate conclusion.
After dithering for ages, I ended up buying nothing.
- other
- verb
- grammatical form
- noun
- 何度も電話したあげく、「担当者がいない」と言われた。なんどもでんわしたあげく、「たんとうしゃがいない」といわれた。After calling heaven knows how many times, I was told there was nobody in charge.
- あちこちの店を回ったあげく、結局最初の店で買った。あちこちのみせをまわったあげく、けっきょくさいしょのみせでかった。I went round every shop, only to end up buying in the first one.
How to form it
After a verb in the plain past, or after a noun followed by の. The final に is optional. Before a noun, you say あげくの + noun.
| Base | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb-た | 〜たあげく（に） | 迷ったあげく |
| Noun | N のあげく（に） | 口げんかのあげく |
| To go one further | あげくの果て（に） | あげくの果てに、会社をやめた |
| Before a noun | 〜あげくの N | 苦労したあげくの失敗 |
- 彼は遅刻を繰り返し、あげくの果てに会議を休んだ。かれはちこくをくりかえし、あげくのはてにかいぎをやすんだ。He kept turning up late, and to top it all he missed the meeting.
あげく or 末に?
末に (next point) also says “at the end of”, but the outcome is neutral or happy, achieved through effort or reflection. あげく stresses the wear and tear and the unfortunate outcome. If the result is a success, あげく is impossible.
結局 (“in the end”) is a simple neutral adverb: it says nothing about the time or effort involved.
| Construction | Outcome | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| 〜たあげく | bad, disappointing | irritated, disillusioned |
| 〜た末に | neutral or positive | serious, written |
| 結局 | any | neutral |
- 何度も話し合った末に、やっと合意できた。なんどもはなしあったすえに、やっとごういできた。After many discussions, we finally reached an agreement. (末に)
- 何度も話し合ったあげく、結局けんかになった。なんどもはなしあったあげく、けっきょくけんかになった。We talked it over again and again, only to end up arguing. (あげく)
Common mistakes
- Using it for a success (努力したあげく、合格した): with a good outcome, you say 末に.
- Forgetting の after a noun: 口げんかのあげく, not 口げんかあげく.
- Putting an intention in the second part: あげく relates an outcome that has already happened, usually in the past.
7 exercises on this point
Particles to choose, sentences to put back in order, translations: marked straight away, then reviewed at the right time. This JLPT N2 point is on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line (History and traditions) of the Nagoya lines.