Breakdown of settoappu wa hayaku owaru ni koshita koto wa nai.
はwa
topic particle
早くhayaku
quickly
終わるowaru
to finish
〜に 越した こと は ない〜ni koshita koto wa nai
Questions & Answers about settoappu wa hayaku owaru ni koshita koto wa nai.
What does に越したことはない mean?
It is a set expression meaning:
- there’s nothing better than ...
- it’s best if ...
- the ...er, the better
- preferably ...
So the sentence is expressing an ideal or preferred situation, not a strict rule.
Literally, it comes from the idea that nothing surpasses X.
Why is 終わる used instead of 終える?
Because 終わる and 終える are different kinds of verbs.
- 終わる = to end / to be finished (intransitive)
- 終える = to finish something (transitive)
In this sentence, セットアップ is the thing that finishes, so 終わる is natural.
If you wanted to focus on someone actively finishing the setup, you could say something like:
- セットアップを早く終えるに越したことはない
That would mean it’s best to finish the setup early.
Why is 終わる in the plain non-past form?
