おわる - Grammar Discussion

to finish
to end

Structure

  • Verb[stem] + 終わる

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I understand that my answer is wrong, but is it a good idea to ask for two grammar points at once here? In the example section the ら(which is part of the answer) is not highlighted, which makes it easy to miss.

@Laugerizor Hey! You should be seeing “[~たら]” as a hint in the answer blank before you type your answer and then above the Japanese sentence while you are typing. We often include conjugation hints when they are not directly related to the grammar point that you are being quizzed on. Cheers!

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I seem to make this mistake all the time. For a sentence like “宿題をなおしおわったら教えてください。”, I’ll leave out the おわった and just write “宿題をなおしたら教えてください。”
What’s the actual difference between those two sentences?

なおしたら - they have started correcting it and may not be finished correcting when they tell you.

なおしおわったら - they started and finished correcting then they tell you.

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What does the 「か」 mean here?

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@jcancellier
Hey and welcome to the community forums!

It is used here as the question particle. Notice that it is followed by the の which is attached to the noun, therefore it modifies/describes/explains the noun 文章.

何になりたいかの文章を書き終わったら、絵を描いてください。
When you finish writing an essay about “what do you want to be?”, draw a picture.

You can think of the 何になりたいか as a noun phrase. That’s why it is possible to attach it to 文章 with の. As I have written, phrase connected with の “explains” the noun 文章, so I have translated it as “about”.

This is a case of a certain pattern:
Phrase + かという/かの + Noun
Phrase + という/との + Noun

Where the noun is an activity of expressing ideas or passing people information like 話 (chat/story), お知らせ (notification), 文章 and so on. The phrase is used to explain what the noun is about.

So you can rephrase かの to かという without changing the meaning:
何になりたいかという文章を書き終わったら、絵を描いてください。

I hope it helps,
Cheers!

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Ah okay got it! The sentence with the literal/direct translation really helped. Thank you for the clear explanation and additional example!

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何になりたいかの文章を書き終わりましたか。

Why can’t I say 書き上げました here?

Hey there! We have just added a hint for 書き上げる! The general meaning of both 書き上げる and 書き終わる is basically the same, but they have a slight difference in nuance. 書き上げる has the nuance of ‘working hard/ trying to finish writing’, but 書き終わる focuses more on ‘finish writing’. I hope that answers your question!

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I have a question about the intransitive nature of 終る and the use of は and を to mark the target.

Some example sentences use は:

  • この番組見終わった。
  • 図書館から借りた本読み終わった?

Other example sentences use を:

  • 何になりたいかの文章書き終わりましたか。
  • 宿題直し終わった人は教えてください。

I thought intransitive verbs don’t take objects with を, so how does that work? Is that a special case for 終る?

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Not quite! It’s because the verb stem connecting to the intransitive 終わる is itself transitive.

  • 文章書く→ 文章を書き…
  • 問題直す → 問題を直し…

Hope this helps clear it up!

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テレビを見るのはたべおわってから。

Can somebody explain the から here to me?

EDIT: Oh, I think I got it now. It’s the てから grammar point.

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When should the わる be past tense?
In English both of the following sentence translate to “finished” but only in the latter does わる reflect that. In the former sentence it remains in the non-past tense, could someone explain when I should conjugate to the past tense?

今日きょうおぼえなくてはならない漢字かんじおぼえ**わる**まで部屋へやからないで。

先生せんせい説明せつめいし**わった**から、先生せんせい質問しつもんをした。

When the finished action is in the past :smirk:

First sentence isn’t
「…漢字を覚え終わるまで…」
"until you finish memorizing the kanji "
as in, it hasn’t happened yet, but when it does, only then can you leave the room

#2 in the past
"Because the teacher finished explaining, I asked him/her a question. "
Couldn’t ask while they were still explaining that would be rude😚 event could’ve happened 10 minutes ago or the other day either way, not future

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Thank you for answer! I’m glad my question was a true question and not found in another section this time :rofl:

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Hahaha :joy: all your questions are true questions just some answers are found in a different place :sparkles:

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This is intensely frustrating.

Why isn’t this right?

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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!