Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 2: 7/17

()わるTo finish, To end

Structure

Verb[stem]+ ()わる

Details

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    Standard

About おわる

To express that actions are beginning, or ending in Japanese, the verbs (はじ)める (to commence), or ()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, ()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 ()える (the transitive version) may also be seen used as an auxiliary to other verbs.


Antonyms



Misc.

Examples

--:--

    ()時間(じかん)かかったけど()べおわりました

    It took two hours but I finished eating.

    (さん)()ごろ(つく)りおわる

    I will finish making it around three o'clock.

    この番組(ばんぐみ)()おわった

    I finished watching this program.

    (はし)りおわったのは何時(なんじ)ぐらいでした

    Around what time did you finish running?

    宿題(しゅくだい)(なお)しおわった(ひと)(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 (23 in total)

  • Guguru-san

    Guguru-san

    I found this NHK article explaining that 終わる is used instead of 終える because the latter was considered difficult to pronounce when using it as an auxiliary verb (like in this grammar point), so people began saying 終わる in spoken language, making 終わる a transitive verb in addition to an intransitive.

    I hope I was able to understand the article correctly. If not, please let me know so I can delete/edit this comment to avoid causing extra confusion.

  • Kaibo

    Kaibo

  • Fuga

    Fuga

    Hey @Kaibo !

    The reason 走り終わる is incorrect here is because this sentence is talking about a past event (indicated by the でした). Due to this, using the present tense, 走り終わる, in a sentence talking about a past even will sound unnatural.

    I hope this answers your question!

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