終(お)わるTo finish, To end

To express that actions are beginning, or ending in Japanese, the verbs 始(はじ)める (to commence), or 終(お)わる (to end) will need to be used. In this lesson, we will focus on actions that are 'ending'.

To say that (A) is ending/finishing, we will need to attach おわる to the ます stem of almost any verb. Whether you use the hiragana form, or the kanji form does not matter, as there will be no change in nuance.

Due to おわる being a verb itself, the tense can be changed to show that something will end, is ending, or has ended.

Caution

Unlike はじめる, which uses the transitive form, 終(お)わる uses the intransitive form of its transitive/intransitive pair. This is due to most actions in Japanese being considered to be things that 'come to an end' naturally (intransitive), rather than forcefully (transitive). However, there are exceptions to this, and 終(お)える (the transitive version) may also be seen used as an auxiliary to other verbs.