اِنْتَهَى / يَنْتَهِي is the central intransitive verb for “end,” “come to an end,” and “finish.” It is Form VIII from root ن-ه-ي, and it is final-weak: the final root ي appears clearly in ينتهي and انتهيت, is written as ى in انتهى, and disappears in the masculine singular jussive and imperative لم ينتهِ، انتهِ.
The verb's preposition identifies the kind of endpoint. انتهى من العمل means “finished the work / finished with the work,” while انتهى إلى نتيجة means “ended up at / reached a conclusion.” With no preposition, the subject itself comes to an end: انتهى الاجتماع. To make an agent end something directly, contemporary MSA normally uses Form IV أنهى: أنهى المدير الاجتماع.
For the onset side of the contrast, see بدأ and its action frames.
Lookup card and principal parts
| Item | Form | Use |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | ن-ه-ي، Form VIII | final-yāʾ weak verb |
| perfect | اِنْتَهَى | he/it ended, finished |
| imperfect | يَنْتَهِي | he/it ends, is ending |
| imperative | اِنْتَهِ | stop! / finish! |
| maṣdar | اِنْتِهَاءٌ | ending, completion, expiry |
| active participle | مُنْتَهٍ / الْمُنْتَهِي | ending, expiring, terminating |
| passive | اُنْتُهِيَ — يُنْتَهَى | impersonal “was/is finished,” rare and highly formal |
| related endpoint noun | مُنْتَهًى | endpoint, limit, culmination |
Although مُنْتَهًى is morphologically related and frequent in compounds such as منتهى السرعة “maximum speed,” it is an endpoint noun, not a useful everyday passive participle meaning “finished.” Likewise, the passive اُنْتُهِيَ مِنْهُ occurs in older or tightly formal impersonal phrasing, but modern prose usually prefers active انتهى الفريق من العمل or تم الانتهاء من العمل.
انتهت المحاضرة قبل الموعد بعشر دقائق.
intahati l-muḥāḍaratu qabla l-mawʿidi biʿashri daqāʾiq.
The lecture ended ten minutes early. (Formal neutral.)
انتهينا من إعداد التقرير وسنرسله هذا المساء.
intahaynā min ʾiʿdādi t-taqrīri wa-sanursiluhu hādhā l-masāʾ.
We have finished preparing the report and will send it this evening. (Formal neutral.)
The final-weak paradigm
Before consonantal suffixes, final y returns: انتهيتُ، انتهينا، انتهينَ. Before the feminine تْ, the final long vowel disappears: انتهتْ. Masculine plural انتهوا has و, while the imperfect keeps ي in ordinary indicative forms.
| Environment | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| perfect samples | اِنْتَهَى، اِنْتَهَتْ، اِنْتَهَيْتُ، اِنْتَهَوْا | he/she/I/they finished |
| indicative | يَنْتَهِي، تَنْتَهِينَ، يَنْتَهُونَ | ends; you f.sg. finish; they finish |
| subjunctive | لَنْ يَنْتَهِيَ، لَنْ يَنْتَهُوا | will not end |
| jussive | لَمْ يَنْتَهِ، لَمْ يَنْتَهُوا | did not end |
| imperatives | اِنْتَهِ، اِنْتَهِي، اِنْتَهُوا | stop/finish! by addressee |
The spelling تنتهي represents both “you m.sg. finish” and “she finishes”; context supplies the person. The feminine singular command انتهي retains written ي, whereas masculine انتهِ does not. In the subjunctive masculine singular لن ينتهيَ, the ي remains and carries an overt fatḥa when endings are pronounced.
لن تنتهي أعمال الصيانة قبل نهاية الأسبوع.
lan tantahiya ʾaʿmālu ṣ-ṣiyānati qabla nihāyati l-ʾusbūʿ.
The maintenance work will not end before the end of the week. (Formal; subjunctive retains final yāʾ.)
لم ينته الاجتماع إلى اتفاق نهائي.
lam yantahi l-ijtimāʿu ʾilā ttifāqin nihāʾiyy.
The meeting did not result in a final agreement. (Formal; jussive deletes final yāʾ.)
انته من مراجعة الأرقام قبل إرسال الملف.
intahi min murājaʿati l-ʾarqāmi qabla ʾirsāli l-malaf.
Finish reviewing the figures before sending the file. (Direct formal instruction to one man.)
Ranked meanings and government
1. Come to an end: no object
An event, period, supply, validity, route, or other bounded entity can be the subject of انتهى. The verb is intransitive here. Time expressions answer when the endpoint occurs, but they do not turn the verb transitive.
تنتهي صلاحية جواز السفر في يونيو المقبل.
tantahī ṣalāḥiyyatu jawāzi s-safari fī yūnyū l-muqbil.
The passport expires next June. (Formal administrative register.)
انتهى الطريق المعبد عند أطراف القرية.
intahā ṭ-ṭarīqu l-muʿabbadu ʿinda ʾaṭrāfi l-qarya.
The paved road ended at the edge of the village. (Formal neutral.)
2. Finish a task: انتهى من
When a person or group completes an activity, من introduces what they have finished. The complement may be a noun (انتهى من العمل) or a verbal noun (انتهى من كتابة الرسالة). This frame differs from English, where finish directly takes a noun or gerund.
انتهت المهندسة من فحص النظام قبل وصول العميل.
intahati l-muhandisatu min faḥṣi n-niẓāmi qabla wuṣūli l-ʿamīl.
The engineer finished checking the system before the client arrived. (Formal neutral.)
هل انتهيتم من النسخة النهائية أم ما زلتم تعدلونها؟
hali ntahaytum mina n-nuskhati n-nihāʾiyyati ʾam mā ziltum tuʿaddilūnahā?
Have you finished the final version, or are you still revising it? (Formal neutral.)
3. Reach an endpoint or result: انتهى إلى
إلى marks the endpoint reached by a path, argument, process, or sequence. With people, انتهى إلى قرار/نتيجة means “came to a decision/conclusion.” With an event, انتهى الأمر إلى means “the matter ended up in/resulted in.” This is not the same as completing work من.
انتهى التحقيق إلى أن الحريق نتج عن خلل كهربائي.
intahā t-taḥqīqu ʾilā ʾanna l-ḥarīqa nataja ʿan khalalin kahrabāʾiyy.
The investigation concluded that the fire resulted from an electrical fault. (Formal.)
انتهى الخلاف إلى تسوية قبل بدء المحاكمة.
intahā l-khilāfu ʾilā taswiyatin qabla badʾi l-muḥākama.
The dispute ended in a settlement before the trial began. (Formal legal register.)
4. Reach someone: انتهى إلى علمه / انتهى إليه الخبر
In elevated formal prose, information can “reach” a person: انتهى إليه الخبر or انتهى إلى علمه أن.... This is common in legal and administrative writing but stiff in ordinary conversation, where عرف، علم، وصله الخبر are lighter.
انتهى إلى علم الهيئة أن بعض السجلات قد فقدت.
intahā ʾilā ʿilmi l-hayʾati ʾanna baʿḍa s-sijillāti qad fuqidat.
It came to the authority's attention that some records had been lost. (Formal administrative register.)
انتهى versus أنهى
انتهى is normally intransitive: the meeting ends or a person finishes من a task. أنهى is transitive: an agent ends or completes something directly. The contrast parallels English the meeting ended versus the chair ended the meeting, but Arabic marks it morphologically as Form VIII versus Form IV.
انتهت الجلسة في الخامسة، ثم أنهى الرئيس البث المباشر.
intahati l-jalsatu fī l-khāmisati, thumma ʾanhā r-raʾīsu l-baththa l-mubāshir.
The session ended at five, and then the chair ended the livestream. (Formal neutral.)
Collocations and register
| Collocation | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| اِنْتَهَى الِاجْتِمَاعُ | the meeting ended (neutral) |
| اِنْتَهَى مِنَ الْعَمَلِ | finished the work (neutral/formal) |
| اِنْتَهَى إِلَى نَتِيجَةٍ | reached a conclusion/result (formal) |
| اِنْتَهَى الْأَمْرُ إِلَى | the matter ended up/resulted in (formal) |
| عِنْدَ الِانْتِهَاءِ مِنْ | upon completing (formal/instructional) |
| تَارِيخُ انْتِهَاءِ الصَّلَاحِيَّةِ | expiry date (administrative) |
Common Mistakes
Giving intransitive انتهى a direct object
❌ انتهى المدير الاجتماع في الخامسة.
Incorrect for ‘the director ended the meeting’—use transitive Form IV أنهى.
✅ أنهى المدير الاجتماع في الخامسة.
ʾanhā l-mudīru l-ijtimāʿa fī l-khāmisa.
The director ended the meeting at five.
Omitting من after the person who finishes
❌ انتهيت التقرير هذا الصباح.
Incorrect—someone who completes a task uses انتهى من.
✅ انتهيت من التقرير هذا الصباح.
intahaytu mina t-taqrīri hādhā ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
I finished the report this morning.
Confusing completion with outcome
❌ انتهت اللجنة من قرار جديد بعد النقاش.
Incorrect for ‘reached a new decision’—من marks a completed task; a reached result takes إلى.
✅ انتهت اللجنة إلى قرار جديد بعد النقاش.
intahati l-lajnatu ʾilā qarārin jadīdin baʿda n-niqāsh.
The committee reached a new decision after the discussion.
Keeping final yāʾ in the masculine singular jussive
❌ لم ينتهي العمل بعد.
Incorrect—the suffixless jussive deletes final yāʾ.
✅ لم ينته العمل بعد.
lam yantahi l-ʿamalu baʿd.
The work has not finished yet.
Key Takeaways
- اِنْتَهَى — يَنْتَهِي — اِنْتَهِ — اِنْتِهَاء is a final-weak Form-VIII bundle from root ن-ه-ي.
- Use the verb intransitively when an event ends; use من when a person finishes a task.
- Use إلى for a reached endpoint, conclusion, outcome, or formal information path.
- The jussive and masculine singular imperative delete final ي: لم ينتهِ، انتهِ.
- Use transitive أنهى when an agent ends or completes a direct object.
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