終わる|おわる
Attached to a verb stem, 終わる means "to finish doing" something. It marks that an action has been carried through to its end.
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Neutral and common in both speech and writing. It appears with actions that have a clear endpoint, such as reading, eating, writing or doing homework, and also with activities viewed as one bounded episode, such as 泣き終わる ('finish crying'). It often combines with たら, まで and た to describe what happens once, or until, an action is finished.
Do not attach 終わる to the dictionary form (読む終わる); it must follow the ます-stem (読み終わる).
Note that the main verb's object keeps を in the compound (本を読み終わる), even though 終わる on its own is intransitive.
Note that transitive 終える can also follow the ます-stem (読み終える) with the same meaning and a slightly more formal feel.
- きるN3「きる」also attaches to the ます-stem, and when meaning 'to finish doing' the two are often interchangeable, but「きる」emphasizes doing something thoroughly, leaving nothing remaining, and seeing it through to the end. It also has uses like「疲れきる」and「困りきる」describing a state reaching its extreme, which「終わる」does not have.
- てしまう / ちゃうN4「てしまう」attaches to the て-form of a verb and is close to「終わる」in the sense of 'finishing doing' something, but it adds a subjective nuance of thoroughness or of doing something with ease. It can also express regret or something that cannot be undone, and in casual speech becomes「ちゃう」; 「終わる」only objectively states that something is finished.
- 続けるN4「続ける」expresses an action continuing without interruption or being kept up, while「終わる」expresses an action being carried through to its end. Both attach to the ます-stem with ます removed, their meanings are opposite, and they cannot be swapped. 「続ける」can also be used in the pattern「〜を続ける」.
- 始めるN4「始める」is opposite in meaning to「終わる」and expresses the start of an action ('to begin to...'), including natural phenomena beginning, such as rain starting or flowers blooming; the two cannot be interchanged. Their conjugation is the same: both attach to the ます-stem with ます removed.
- たところN4「たところ」attaches to the た-form: 「たところだ」means the action was just completed at the moment of speaking, while「たところ、…」describes a result discovered after doing the action. 「終わる」attaches to the ます-stem to express completion and can also refer to the future. The two can be combined: 「書き終わったところだ」.
終わる explicitly marks that an action reaches its end. Unlike きる, it does not stress doing something completely or to the limit, and unlike てしまう, it reports completion neutrally without adding regret, irreversibility or an unintended outcome. 始める and 続ける mark the start and the continuation of an action rather than its end, while たところ locates a moment just after an action rather than expressing the act of finishing it.
