# 終える vs 終わる: frequency



## 82riceballs

Original Title: Is it true that 終える is not used as commonly as 終わる?

In my own personal encounters with Japanese native speakers, I've never heard 終える used whether as a stand-alone verb or a an auxiliary verb (食べ終える). In fact, the only times I've seen it used were by other foreigners. I looked for some explanations and found the following somewhat conflicting explanations by native speakers, which I list below. However, I want to know what you think?

*Is it that 終える is not commonly used in spoken Japanese the way we don't say "shan't" or "mustn't" in American English, even though they make grammatical sense? Or is it that 終える and 終わる have different meanings and 終わる simply applies to more situations? Or is my observation that 終える is not commonly used wrong?
*
I'm not looking for an official definition of the two words, but how they are used in real life. Thanks!!
*
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On another forum, I read the following explanation.

A user asked if this sentence sounded natural- 
朝ごはんをなるべくそれまでに食べ終えるね

And someone replied: 
「終える」は「終わる」と言うこともできます。カジュアルな表現では「終わる」の方が多く使われている印象があります。
例：朝ごはんは、なるべくそれまでに食べ終わるようにするね。なるべくそれまでに朝ごはんを食べ終わるね。​
And then I also saw a Japanese teacher explain that 終わる is also a 他動詞:
Ｑ：次の文の｢終わる｣は自動詞ですか。
　　・これで今日の授業を終わります。
Ａ：
もともと 「終わる」 は自他動詞です。
ですから、上の 「終わる」 は他動詞と考えてください。
ただ、国語辞書では 「自動詞」 
だけを載せているかもしれません。​
However in this forum, I read the following explanation:
I would say I use 終える as frequently as 終わる. They are equally important and useful Japanese verbs.

私は早く仕事を終えた。 
(I finished the work early.)
Notice that in this example, the writer of this sentence means to say that 私 is the initiator of the action 終える or to finish. "I" directly led the work to the complete state. Maybe this "私" wanted to finish the work early because "I" felt sick. Or maybe "I" had to finish the work early because "I" had an appointment after work. "I" controlled the end time of the work to be finished. 
Meanwhile,
私は早く仕事が終わった。 
(As for me, the work was complete early.)
In this second example, there is no action directly stated. It simply states that the event "早く仕事が終わった" happened. It just happened.​


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## DaylightDelight

Okay, some random thoughts:

I don't think I personally have ever used 終える, or hear it used very often these days.
I seem to remember my late grandmother used it a lot.

Also 終える sounds like a transitive verb, and 終わる intransitive (though the distinction is vague in case of 食べ終わる/食べ終える).

仕事を終える
仕事が終える
仕事を終わる (maybe. 仕事を終わらせる/終わりにする would be more grammatical)
仕事が終わる
I think I myself am using more 終わらせる/終わりにする than 終える as transitive forms.


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## wind-sky-wind

Indeed, "終わる" can be used as a transitive as in "会議を終わる,"
but "終える" would be more common.
My dictionary says "会議が終わる" "会議を終える" and "会議を終わる" are slightly different from each other.
For non-native speakers, however, it would be too difficult to understand.

In my opinion, the transitive "終える" is not obsolete at all.
I mention "終える" when I explain why "終わる" is better than "終る."


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## Flaminius

I fiddled with the Kotonoha corpus a few minutes to get the impression that 終わる is more common.  It is in line with the general tendency of the Japanese language to prefer stative verbs than action verbs.  When someone made tea for you, they are more likely to announce the state of completion お茶が入ったよ than お茶を入れたよ the completion of an action.

I also noticed a curious instance of 終わる, where the verb is used like a causative, 会議を終わらせる.  Compared to 会議を終える, 会議を終わる is more likely understood as saying it was the speaker who closed the meeting to its end.  Indeed it looks like a favourite expression in the Parliament.  I found a lot of phrases like これで私の質問を終わります.

Still, I am not sure if it is a specialised use limited to examples above.  True, 仕事を終わる seems to say that the speaker consciously called it a day, rather than e.g., finishing the work because it's 5 o'clock in the evening.  The distinction is blurry, however, in pairs such as 休暇を終わる vs. 休暇を終える; 課題を終わる vs. 課題を終える.


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## wind-sky-wind

I think the difference doesn't matter much.
"...を終える" is perfectly correct and common.
It is used both formally and informally very often.
That's all.

The thread title is "終える vs 終わる: frequency,"
but 82riceballs asks if "the observation that 終える is not commonly used is wrong."


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## Flaminius

wind-sky-wind said:


> but 82riceballs asks if "the observation that 終える is not commonly used is wrong."


I changed the title as moderator to keep links tidy in the WR Engkish-Japanese dictionaries.  I, albeit briefly, have answered OP's question.  Kotonoha counts 1408 instances for が終わる whereas the count for を終える is 463.  As this excludes compound verbs, I queried for 食べ終える (18 hits) and 食べ終わる (58 hits).  Someone with more systematic tendency should feel free to refine the search to locate in which style or age there lies the greatest difference.


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## wind-sky-wind

I don't think it meaningful to compare "...が終わる" and "...を終える."
The fact that "...を終える" itself is used to a certain degree is important.
In order to express the transitive "to finish something" or "to complete something,"
"...を終える" is a very common expression.

Let's try searching in Twitter.

終える - Twitter検索

一生を終える
人生を終える
仕事を終える
シーズンを終える
試合を終える
無事（...を）終える


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## frequency

びっくりした！タイトル見て何かと思ったｗ



82riceballs said:


> もともと 「終わる」 は自他動詞です。
> ですから、上の 「終わる」 は他動詞と考えてください。
> ただ、国語辞書では 「自動詞」
> だけを載せているかもしれません。


Jisho org says that 終わる is an intransitive verb. So



> ・これで今日の授業を終わります。


This is the exceptional use.

Use either 終わる or 終える accordingly.


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## DaylightDelight

wind-sky-wind's examples above sound natural enough, however the point is that usage of 終える is rarer than 終わる as it is.
In fact, most of these examples can be rewritten with 終わる without changing their meanings very much.
Yes, 終える is common, and still far from obsolete or dated.
But to answer the OP's (original) question, I'd say 終える is not used as commonly as 終わる.


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## Flaminius

wind-sky-wind said:


> I don't think it meaningful to compare "...が終わる" and "...を終える."


It tells the intransitive verb is more commonly used than the transitive verb.  For estimating which is more commonly used in cases where the two are interchangeable, you must detract from the figure of が終わる those which are irreplaceable with を終える, and from that of を終える those irreplaceable with が終わる.  Admittedly both figures are unknown to us, but they cannot be so different with each other.  If each irreplaceable が終わる has instances of  irreplaceable を終える the same as or within the ratio 1408/463, we can still say that が終わる is used at least three times as much as を終える in cases where they are interchangeable.


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## frequency

82,
I suppose you want to know the usage a bit because you asked about the "frequency" (sorry)of 終わる・終える.

Trouble's happened! Your boss asks you to come back right away. But you're eating ramen. You say to him, 一時までには食べ終えます。

終える sounds poetic in daily conversation. So you can say to your ojisan-boss 一時までには食べ終わります。 instead.
Notice that I'm speaking about this case only.



82riceballs said:


> And someone replied:
> 「終える」は「終わる」と言うこともできます。カジュアルな表現では「終わる」の方が多く使われている印象があります。
> 例：朝ごはんは、なるべくそれまでに食べ終わるようにするね。なるべくそれまでに朝ごはんを食べ終わるね。​


So I agree with this.

食べ終えます。per se is very good. Say so in a conversation with a beautiful Japanese woman.


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## Schokolade

Flaminius said:


> I found a lot of phrases like これで私の質問を終わります





wind-sky-wind said:


> "...を終える" is perfectly correct and common.
> It is used both formally and informally very often.
> That's all.



Yeah... これで私の質問を*終わり*ます。これで授業を*終わり*ます。ニュースを*終わり*ます。 are more natural and more commonly heard than これで私の質問を*終え*ます。これで授業を*終え*ます。ニュースを*終え*ます。, no?

Heh... my mum says 「食べ*終わっ*たら、下げなさい」 not 「食べ*終え*たら、～～」
「使い*終わっ*たら・読み*終わっ*たら、片づけなさい」 not 「使い*終え*たら・読み*終え*たら、～～」...
(Though these are 複合動詞/compound verbs...)
To me, 「連用形+終わる」 sounds more conversational and less literary (hence more common in casual conversation) than 「連用形+終える」.

-----

Hopefully the following quotes from 明鏡国語辞典 might be of some help:



> 「終わる」
> 表現
> 「会議が終わる」「会議を終わる」「会議を終える」では、*意味が微妙に異なる。*「～が終わる」は自然のなりゆきとして終了する、「～を終える」は意図的に終了する意。*「～を終わる」は中間的な言い方で、自分の意図にかかわりなく終了する意。*「これで挨拶を終えます」というと、話し手の意図が前面に押し出されすぎるため、*一般には「～を終わります」という穏やかな言い方になる*。





> 「終える」
> (複合動詞に関する項の後ろに)
> 表現
> 「終わる」ともいうが、「終える」のほうが動作主の意図が強く出る。



So... maybe these explain why ～を終わる is more commonly heard than ～を終える in conversation (in situations where they're interchangeable, of course), no?


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## Flaminius

*Schokolade*, thanks for pointing at 明鏡国語辞典.


> 「～を終わる」は中間的な言い方で、自分の意図にかかわりなく終了する意。「これで挨拶を終えます」というと、話し手の意図が前面に押し出されすぎるため、一般には「～を終わります」という穏やかな言い方になる。



It is indeed a sound explanation of how これで私の質問を終わります, これで授業を終わります and ニュースを終わります sound more natural.  It also explains the perceived willful involvement of the speakier in を終わる.  Alas, contrary to my expectation, it is just a secondary impression arising from the fact that this is a preferred expression in certain speech acts (type of actions performed by the speeches that represent them).


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## 82riceballs

Thanks for everyone's responses! I want to ask a few follow up questions before I summarize all our findings.



wind-sky-wind said:


> I don't think it meaningful to compare "...が終わる" and "...を終える."
> The fact that "...を終える" itself is used to a certain degree is important.
> In order to express the transitive "to finish something" or "to complete something,"
> "...を終える" is a very common expression.
> 
> Let's try searching in Twitter.
> 
> 終える - Twitter検索
> 
> 一生を終える
> 人生を終える
> 仕事を終える
> シーズンを終える
> 試合を終える
> 無事（...を）終える



Hi Wind-sky-wind, thanks for your response! I know that sometimes people write slightly more formally on social media than the way they speak to friends, because they are writing for an audience. Would you say this is the case or do you find these examples totally appropriate for casual speech? May I also ask when you use 終える in casual speech, if you do? 

I also wonder if this might be due to personal differences? For instance, in English, there are certain things that I say that many other Americans might find formal/literary. e.g. replying to a text message that says "see you tomorrow" with "likewise". (now that I think of it, if a non-native English speaker used "likewise" on me, I might find it a bit strange... I wonder if this would be the same of a foreigner using 終える...)


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## Schokolade

Flaminius said:


> contrary to my expectation, it is just a secondary impression arising from the fact that this is a preferred expression in certain speech acts (type of actions performed by the speeches that represent them).



Hee my poor brain didn't even notice these sentences (これで質問を終わります、授業を終わります、ニュースを終わります) are all 遂行文. Yes, を終わります is definitely preferred over を終えます or を終わらせます in 遂行文. Now I'm not sure whether we still prefer ～を終わります (using 終わる as a transitive verb) outside 遂行文(performative sentence) and 複合動詞(compound verb). Maaaybe we say 仕事*を終わった*ら飲みに行こう or 早く仕事*を終わって*帰りたい or 今日は会議*を*３時に*終わった* in casual (or, sloppy?) speech, but I have a feeling that we'd rather say like 仕事*が*終わったら飲みに行こう, 早く仕事を*終わらせて*帰りたい, 今日は会議*が*３時に終わった... (← still avoiding 終える...)


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## 82riceballs

Very fascinating! This distinction makes a lot of sense to me. it was also my impression that people say 仕事(が)終わった and 仕事を終わらせる, so neither を終わる or を終える.

In case anyone else also doesn't know what a performative sentence is, I found this helpful definition on wiki:

"*Performative verbs* are verbs carried out simply by means of uttering them aloud. When a judge sentences someone to jail time, for example, the action is completed when he or she says, _"I hereby sentence you to five years in prison,"_ or the like. Compare this with the sentence, _"I run every day,"_in which the verb "run" merely _represents_ the action of moving quickly.

One can identify a performative verb by using the "Hereby" Test such as the:

_I hereby confer upon you the rank of Second Lieutenant.
I hereby promise to buy you some ice cream._


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## frequency

82riceballs said:


> 仕事(が)終わった and 仕事を終わらせる, so neither を終わる or を終える.



仕事を終えたら飲みに行こう。
There's somebody who will finish the work. Suppose 私が is omitted in it. The speaker says that he only finishes his work. If he says 彼女が仕事を終えたら, there's a woman and she = finishes.
The casual version is 仕事を終わらせたら飲みに行こう。

仕事が終わったら飲みにいこう。
The people/person who finishes the work is unidentified. So the work has been done by unidentified several people. So he says 仕事が終わる (not mentioning who does).


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