Questions & Answers about La deklivo finiĝas ĉe la montpasejo.
Because finiĝi means to come to an end / to end, while fini usually means to end something / to finish something.
So:
- La deklivo finiĝas = The slope ends
- Li finas la laboron = He finishes the work
The ending -iĝ- often shows that something becomes a certain way or undergoes a change by itself, rather than actively doing it to something else.
In this sentence, the slope is not ending something else. The slope itself comes to an end.
You can break finiĝas into parts:
- fin- = end, finish
- -iĝ- = become / get into a state / happen to itself
- -as = present tense
So finiĝas literally has the idea of is becoming finished or more naturally ends.
This pattern is very common in Esperanto:
- malfermi = to open something
malfermiĝi = to open, to become open
- fermi = to close something
- fermiĝi = to close, to become closed