Translation guide
This entry covers how to express the idea of 'beginning and end' in Japanese, from the literal pairing of start and finish to idiomatic expressions about the entirety of something.
To refer to the actual beginning and end points of an event, story, process, or physical object.
The most direct and common way to say 'beginning and end'. 始まり (hajimari) means 'beginning' and 終わり (owari) means 'end'. The particle と connects them.
物語の始まりと終わりを教えてください。
Please tell me the beginning and end of the story.
人生の始まりと終わりについて考えた。
I thought about the beginning and end of life.
Literally 'first and last'. Often used for the first and last items in a sequence, or the beginning and end of a period. More concrete than 始まりと終わり.
映画の最初と最後だけ見た。
I only watched the beginning and end of the movie.
旅行の最初と最後は雨だった。
It rained at the beginning and end of the trip.
Similar to 始まりと終わり, but 始め (hajime) is a noun form that can sound slightly more like 'the start' as an action. Often interchangeable.
仕事の始めと終わりにストレッチをする。
I stretch at the beginning and end of work.
To express the entirety of something, covering everything from start to finish.
Literally 'from beginning to end'. A very common way to say 'from start to finish' or 'the whole thing'.
その本を始めから終わりまで読んだ。
I read the book from beginning to end.
会議の始めから終わりまで参加した。
I attended the meeting from beginning to end.
Similar to 始めから終わりまで, but uses 最初 (saisho) and 最後 (saigo) for a slightly more concrete sense of 'first to last'.
最初から最後まで彼の話は面白かった。
His story was interesting from beginning to end.
Can mean 'from beginning to end' or 'continuously'. Often used as an adverb with ずっと or ～する.
To express a philosophical or cyclical idea that the beginning and end are the same or linked.
A common saying meaning 'the end is the beginning'. Often used to express that an ending leads to a new start.
終わりは始まりだ。
The end is the beginning.
A proverb meaning 'if there is a beginning, there is an end'. Expresses the inevitability of endings.
始まりがあれば終わりがある。だから今を大切にしよう。
If there is a beginning, there is an end. So let's cherish the present.
始まり (hajimari) is the abstract concept of a beginning, while 最初 (saisho) is the concrete first thing in a sequence. For 'beginning and end' as a pair, 始まりと終わり is more natural for abstract concepts, while 最初と最後 is better for concrete sequences like a list or a movie.
To say 'from beginning to end', you need the particles から and まで: 始めから終わりまで or 最初から最後まで. Simply saying 始まりと終わり means 'the beginning and the end' as two points, not the whole span.
このプロジェクトの始まりと終わりを知りたい。
I want to know the beginning and end of this project.
彼はその過程を始めから終わりまで説明した。
He explained the process from beginning to end.
A noun meaning 'the whole story' or 'all the details from beginning to end'. Often used when recounting an event.
彼は事故の一部始終を話した。
He told the whole story of the accident from beginning to end.
He was smiling from beginning to end / the whole time.