終(お)わる

To finish, To end

Structure

Verb［ます］+ 終(お)わる

Details

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使用域
一般

About おわる

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.

荷物(にもつ)は全部(ぜんぶ)届(とど)け終(お)わりました。
I have finished delivering all the packages.
この車(くるま)のローンは明日(あした)払(はら)い終(お)わる。
I will finish paying the loan for this car tomorrow.

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.

学生生活(がくせいせいかつ)は明日(あした)で終(お)わります。
My student life will end tomorrow. (Will finish)
ん、で終(お)わる言葉(ことば)を使(つか)って負(ま)けた。
I used a word ending with ん, and lost. (Is finishing)
戦争(せんそう)は20年(ねん)前(まえ)に終(お)わった。
The war ended 20 years ago. (Has finished)

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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Examples

２時間(じかん)もかかったけど、食(た)べ終(お)わりました。
It took two hours but I finished eating.
３時(じ)ごろに作(つく)り終(お)わる。
I will finish making it around three o'clock.
この番組(ばんぐみ)は見(み)終(お)わった。
I finished watching this program.
走(はし)り終(お)わったのは何時(なんじ)ぐらいでしたか？
Around what time did you finish running?
宿題(しゅくだい)を直(なお)し終(お)わった人(ひと)は教(おし)えてください。
Those who have finished fixing the homework, let me know.
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- How-to say 'finish VERBing'
  「Learn Japanese」
- The beginning, middle, and end of actions
  Wasabi

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- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 362
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おわる – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (12 in total)

testing
About 1 year ago
I have a question about the intransitive nature of 終る and the use of は and を to mark the target.

Some example sentences use は:
- この番組は見終わった。
- 図書館から借りた本は読み終わった？
Other example sentences use を:
- 何になりたいかの文章を書き終わりましたか。
- 宿題を直し終わった人は教えてください。
I thought intransitive verbs don’t take objects with を, so how does that work? Is that a special case for 終る?
Daru
About 1 year ago
Not quite! It’s because the verb stem connecting to the intransitive 終わる is itself transitive.
- 文章を書く→ 文章を書き…
- 問題を直す → 問題を直し…
Hope this helps clear it up!
Isurandil492
About 1 year ago

テレビを見るのはたべおわってから。

Can somebody explain the から here to me?

EDIT: Oh, I think I got it now. It’s the てから grammar point.