卖掉 and 卖完

[daofeishi]

I just finished watching a 史努比 cartoon to practice my poorly developed listening skills, and heard the following sentence (well, saw as well, as the show is subtitled): "你只需卖掉这几包爆米花"

I guess 卖掉 here means "finish selling/sell out" Is that right? What is then the difference between 卖掉 and 卖完? How is the word 掉 used in other contexts？

[Hanyu'sWay]

卖完 does not necessarily mean selling out. It could mean finishing the act of selling.

For example, a food stand may sell breakfast in the morning and then switch to selling noodle at 11AM. You could then say something like:

到十一点钟卖完了烧饼油条，他就开始卖面。

In that case he is finishing selling the breakfast, not necessarily selling out all the breakfast he made.

[Annaliu]

卖掉、卖完

卖 is a vt, sell

掉diào <助>

Vt+掉，express the result of actions, for example: 丢掉 /lost;改掉 /changed;

用在某些动词后,表示动作的结果。如:丢掉;改掉;打掉

掉 also has other meaning:

1)落下 [fall;shed;drop]。Example:

The plate dropped from her hands.

盘子从她手中掉了下来。

掉眼泪;熟的苹果从树上掉下来了等等

2)丢失 [lose]。Example: Don’t lost the key. 如:别把钥匙掉了

3)转回 [turn]。Example: Turn around the car..如:把车头掉过来;掉首;掉背脸(转过脸)

4)调换 [exchange]。 Example: stealthily substitute one thing for another. 如:掉包儿(暗中偷换);掉忙功夫(方言。忙里偷闲;抽空);掉揽(设法弄走别人的东西);我要大瓶掉小瓶

5)划 [paddle;row]

见前面两个人,掉着一只舡来。——《水浒传》

6)落在后面 [drop;fall]。Example: Break the ranks.如:掉队

7)减少,降低 [decrease;lower]。Example: cheapen.如:体重掉了五斤;掉价儿

完wán

完成,结束 [finish;complete;run out;use up]

There is a little difference between卖掉 and 卖完.

卖掉 not only can point one part sold out, but also can point all products sold out. When it means all products sold out, shall add 全，都 to emphasize the tone.

苹果卖掉了一半，还有一半。Apples were sold a half.

苹果全都卖掉了。

卖完 only point all products sold out

苹果卖完了。

When they point all products sold out, they are same. Such as苹果全都卖掉了=苹果卖完了。