Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
~おわる

~おわる

~おわる Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Auxiliary Verb

Essential Meaning: Finish doing X

Construction: 

  • Verb ます-Form + 終おわる
    • E.g. 話はなし終おわる [Finish speaking]
    • E.g. 食たべ終おわる [Finish eating]

Notes:

  • ~おわる (~終おわる in kanji) simply means “To finish doing X“. The regular verb 終おわる [To finish] is intransitive, but the auxiliary verb ~終おわる can be used transitively (i.e. “X finishes doing Y“).
    • E.g. やっと論文ろんぶんを書かき終おわった。[I finally finished writing my paper.] This is a transitive sentence with a direct object marked by を.
    • E.g. 夏なつが終おわりました。[Summer is over.] This is an example of the regular verb 終おわる rather than the auxiliary verb ~終おわる. Notice that there is no direct object since the sentence is intransitive.
  • In written Japanese, ~終おわる may be replaced by ~終おえる, which conjugates as a Group 2 verb (i.e. 終おえます, 終おえました, etc.) The meaning is the same.
    • E.g. 「源氏物語げんじものがたり」を読よみ終おえた。[I finished reading “The Tale of Genji”.]

Example Sentences:

「源氏物語げんじものがたり」をやっと読よみ終おわった。[I finally finished reading “The Tale of Genji”.]

やっと論文ろんぶんを書かき終おわった。[I finally finished writing my paper.]

ちょうどご飯はんを食たべ終おわったところです。[I just finished eating my meal.]

WILD Examples:

Listen to this line at 0:22: お代かわりするわ、飲のみ終おわるまでにきてね [I’m having another drink, come here by the time I finish it]

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