~おわる Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Auxiliary Verb
Essential Meaning: Finish doing X
Construction:
- Verb ます-Form + 終わる
- E.g. 話し終わる [Finish speaking]
- E.g. 食べ終わる [Finish eating]
Notes:
- ~おわる (~終わる in kanji) simply means “To finish doing X“. The regular verb 終わる [To finish] is intransitive, but the auxiliary verb ~終わる can be used transitively (i.e. “X finishes doing Y“).
- E.g. やっと論文を書き終わった。[I finally finished writing my paper.] This is a transitive sentence with a direct object marked by を.
- E.g. 夏が終わりました。[Summer is over.] This is an example of the regular verb 終わる rather than the auxiliary verb ~終わる. Notice that there is no direct object since the sentence is intransitive.
- In written Japanese, ~終わる may be replaced by ~終える, which conjugates as a Group 2 verb (i.e. 終えます, 終えました, etc.) The meaning is the same.
- E.g. 「源氏物語」を読み終えた。[I finished reading “The Tale of Genji”.]
Example Sentences:
「源氏物語」をやっと読み終わった。[I finally finished reading “The Tale of Genji”.]
やっと論文を書き終わった。[I finally finished writing my paper.]
ちょうどご飯を食べ終わったところです。[I just finished eating my meal.]
WILD Examples:
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