Закінчувати / Закінчити (to finish)

Infinitives: закі́нчувати (imperfective) / закі́нчити (perfective) — "to finish, to end, to complete" Type: a regular suffix-derived first-conjugation aspect pair (the imperfective is built from the perfective by inserting the imperfectivising suffix -ува-)

закі́нчувати / закі́нчити is the workhorse verb for "finishing" anything — a book, a sentence, a degree, a war. It is doubly useful to learn well because it leads two grammatical lives at once. As a phase verb it means "finish doing something" and takes a bare imperfective infinitive (закі́нчив писа́ти "he finished writing"); as an ordinary transitive verb it means "complete a thing" and takes an accusative object (закі́нчити робо́ту "finish the work"). Add the reflexive ending -ся and it flips to mean "come to an end" by itself (Уро́к закі́нчився "The lesson ended"). English collapses all of this onto one word, "finish," so the work is in choosing aspect, case, and the -ся. Stress is marked on every form below.

Present tense — imperfective закі́нчувати only

Only the imperfective has a present. The -ува- of the infinitive surfaces as -у- in the personal forms: закі́нчу-ю, закі́нчу-єш… The whole paradigm is stem-stressed on закі́нч-.

The imperfective present is for habits and ongoing, repeated finishing: Я завжди́ закі́нчую робо́ту о шо́стій "I always finish work at six."

Past tense — gendered закі́нчував / закі́нчив…

Both aspects build a regular gendered past in -в / -ла / -ло / -ли, agreeing with the subject's gender and number (there is no person marking in the past). The imperfective stays stem-stressed (закі́нчував); the perfective is stem-stressed throughout (закі́нчив, закі́нчила, закі́нчило, закі́нчили). You will also hear the masculine with end-of-stem stress, закінчи́в, as a common spoken variant, but the dictionary-primary form is закі́нчив.

The imperfective past describes the process of finishing or repeated finishings (я закі́нчував робо́ту "I was finishing / used to finish the work"); the perfective past reports the single completed result (я закі́нчив робо́ту "I finished the work [it's done]"). For "I finished a degree from school X" Ukrainian uses the perfective with an accusative: Я закі́нчив Ки́ївський університе́т "I graduated from Kyiv University."

Future tense

The two aspects build the future in completely different ways — the central lesson of every aspect pair.

Perfective закі́нчити — the simple (synthetic) future

The perfective has no present; the forms that look like a present ARE its future. закі́нчити is a second-conjugation verb, so the 1sg ending attaches straight to the stem-final ч with -у (no glide): закі́нчу, never закі́нчию. The other forms take the -и- endings (закі́нчиш, закі́нчить…), and the 3pl is *-ать (закі́нчать). All forms are stem-stressed.

Imperfective закі́нчувати — both compound futures

The imperfective forms its future two ways, identical in meaning: the analytic future (бу́ду + infinitive) and the synthetic -му future (infinitive + -му/-меш…). Both describe finishing as an ongoing or repeated future activity.

Imperative

The imperative is built from each aspect's present/future stem. Use the imperfective for general urging ("keep finishing up / wrap things up") and the perfective for a specific one-off "finish it."

Participles and verbal adverbs

закі́нчений is everyday ("a finished project," закі́нчена спра́ва "a done deal"); the verbal adverbs закі́нчуючи / закі́нчивши are (literary / written) — Закі́нчивши лист, він запеча́тав конве́рт "Having finished the letter, he sealed the envelope."

Key uses & case government

1. Phase use — finish DOING → imperfective infinitive

When закінчити means "finish doing," it is a phase verb, and Ukrainian phase verbs (почина́ти "begin," продо́вжувати "continue," переста́ти "stop") always take an imperfective infinitive — never a perfective one. The logic is airtight: you cannot "finish" a single, already-completed act; you finish an action conceived as ongoing, which is exactly what the imperfective names. This pattern has its own page, aspect after phase verbs.

2. Transitive use — finish a THING → accusative object

When it means "complete a thing," it takes a plain accusative object with no preposition: закі́нчити шко́лу, робо́ту, ле́кцію. With "graduate from," Ukrainian likewise uses a bare accusative for the institution: закі́нчити університе́т (not *з університе́ту). See accusative uses.

3. Reflexive закі́нчуватися / закі́нчитися — "come to an end"

Add -ся and the verb becomes intransitive: the thing itself ends, with no agent. The subject is now what ends, in the nominative, and there is no object: Уро́к закі́нчився "The lesson ended"; Фільм закі́нчується о деся́тій "The film ends at ten." Dropping the -ся here is a real error — Уро́к закі́нчив would mean "The lesson finished [something]," which is nonsense. See meanings of -ся.

4. закі́нчити vs переста́ти — "finish" vs "stop"

Закі́нчити means you brought an action to its natural completion; переста́ти means you simply stopped, finished or not. Я закі́нчив чита́ти = "I read it to the end"; Я переста́в чита́ти = "I stopped reading" (maybe mid-page). Both take an imperfective infinitive, but they say opposite things about completion.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Suffix pair: imperfective закі́нчувати (present: закі́нчую, закі́нчуєш, закі́нчує, закі́нчуємо, закі́нчуєте, закі́нчують) vs perfective закі́нчити (future: закі́нчу, закі́нчиш, закі́нчить, закі́нчимо, закі́нчите, закі́нчать — note 1sg закі́нчу).
• Past: закі́нчував… (impf) and закі́нчив (spoken variant закінчи́в) / закі́нчила / закі́нчило / закі́нчили (pf) — gendered.
• Two grammars: phase verb → imperfective infinitive (закі́нчив писа́ти); transitive → accusative object (закі́нчив робо́ту, університе́т).
• Reflexive закі́нчуватися / закі́нчитися "come to an end" — the subject ends by itself, no object (Уро́к закі́нчився). Don't drop the -ся.
• Contrast: закі́нчити = brought to natural completion; переста́ти = merely stopped, perhaps unfinished.