おわる (JLPT N4)

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.

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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Examples

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２(に)時間(じかん)もかかったけど、食(た)べおわりました。

It took two hours but I finished eating.

３(さん)時(じ)ごろに作(つく)りおわる。

I will finish making it around three o'clock.

この番組(ばんぐみ)は見(み)おわった。

I finished watching this program.

走(はし)りおわったのは何時(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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おわる – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (20 in total)

Asher
The hint of ‘emphasis on order’ is the key point here. 食べ終わってから is the answer, as てから is the grammar point used when showing that (B) only happens after (A). たら is just ‘when’ or ‘if’. Hope this helps, and that you have a great day!
Kattosan
「ん、で終わる言葉を使って負けた。」
This is listed as an example of 終わる being able to appear in different tenses, but how is this an example? 終わる is still in dict form, and moreover, it supposedly is a show of おわる as “is finishing”. How?

The general sentence looks more like past to me, and おわる doesn’t seem to represent “is finishing”.
BreadmanNin
The sentence as a whole is in past tense, but “ん、で終わる言葉” means “a word ending in ん”, which is present continuous tense.

It’s that part of the sentence in particular that is meant to show that 終わる’s form can be changed.

Different example:
今終わる番組。The tv show that is just ending. (Present continuous ← this is the important point)
今終わる番組を半分だけ見ました。I only watched half of the tv show that is just ending. (Past tense)

(Actually, maybe it would be more natural to say 今終わってる番組. I’m not that well-versed in Japanese yet. But if that’s the case, it shows all the more that the form of 終わる can be changed. )