終える

Japanese

Kanji in this term
終
お Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
了える (obsolete)

Etymology

/wopu/ → (attributive) /wopuru/ → /wofuru/ → (grammatical shift) /woferu/ → /oheru/ → /oeru/

From Old Japanese verb wopu,^[1][2][3] from Proto-Japonic *wopu.

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -eru.

The root verb was ambitransitive, with both transitive and intransitive senses conjugated using the 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) pattern. Over time, the two senses differentiated as the intransitive evolved into modern 終わる (owaru, also derivable as the spontaneous or passive -aru ending from a putative but unrecorded 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō), the full quadrigrade conjugation pattern), while the transitive evolved into modern 終える (oeru, with the 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) pattern, also known as "type 2", and the expected historical development for shimo nidan verbs).

Probably not related to superficially similar 追う (ou, ancient opu, “to follow”, quadrigrade conjugation in older Japanese), considering the distinct lack of initial /w/ in ancient spellings.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おえる [òérú] (Heiban – [0])^[2][4][5][6]
• IPA^(key): [o̞e̞ɾɯ̟]

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	終える	おえる	[òérú]
Imperative (命令形)	終えろ	おえろ	[òéró]
Key constructions
Passive	終えられる	おえられる	[òérárérú]
Causative	終えさせる	おえさせる	[òésásérú]
Potential	終えられる	おえられる	[òérárérú]
Volitional	終えよう	おえよー	[òéyóꜜò]
Negative	終えない	おえない	[òénáí]
Negative perfective	終えなかった	おえなかった	[òénáꜜkàttà]
Formal	終えます	おえます	[òémáꜜsù]
Perfective	終えた	おえた	[òétá]
Conjunctive	終えて	おえて	[òété]
Hypothetical conditional	終えれば	おえれば	[òéréꜜbà]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「終える」

Verb

終(お)える • (oeru) ^{←をへる (woferu)?}transitive ichidan (stem 終(お)え (oe), past 終(お)えた (oeta))

Japanese verb pair
active	終える
mediopassive	終わる

1. to end (something), to conclude (something), to finish (something), to quit (something)

Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	終え	おえ	oe
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	終え	おえ	oe
Shūshikei ("terminal")	終える	おえる	oeru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	終える	おえる	oeru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	終えれ	おえれ	oere
Meireikei ("imperative")	終えよ¹ 終えろ²	おえよ¹ おえろ²	oeyo¹ oero²
Key constructions
Passive	終えられる	おえられる	oerareru
Causative	終えさせる 終えさす	おえさせる おえさす	oesaseru oesasu
Potential	終えられる 終えれる³	おえられる おえれる³	oerareru oereru³
Volitional	終えよう	おえよう	oeyō
Negative	終えない 終えぬ 終えん	おえない おえぬ おえん	oenai oenu oen
Negative continuative	終えず	おえず	oezu
Formal	終えます	おえます	oemasu
Perfective	終えた	おえた	oeta
Conjunctive	終えて	おえて	oete
Hypothetical conditional	終えれば	おえれば	oereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Conjugation of "終える" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Synonyms

• 終(しま)う (shimau)
• 結(むす)ぶ (musubu)
• 締(し)め括(くく)る (shimekukuru)
• けりを付(つ)ける (keri o tsukeru)

Antonyms

• 始(はじ)める (hajimeru)

Derived terms

• 終(お)え (oe)

Related terms

• 終(お)わる (owaru) (intransitive)
• 終(お)わり (owari, “ending”)

References

1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
4. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
5. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
6. Hirayama, Teruo, editor (1960), 全国アクセント辞典 (Zenkoku Akusento Jiten, “Nationwide Accent Dictionary”) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Tōkyōdō, →ISBN