beenden
/bəˈʔɛndn̩/
der (masc.) die (fem.) das (neut.)
Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.
Part of the “to stop (an ongoing activity)” register scale — this word sits at B1.
Forms
- present (3rd sg.)
- beendet
- past
- beendete
- perfect
- hat beendet
Meaning
-
to end, to finish (something)
Transitive and deliberate: you beenden a defined task, meeting, or contract, treating it as a thing being completed.
Similar words
aufhören is used with mit plus an activity, or on its own ("Hör auf!"), and just means the activity stops. beenden is transitive and deliberate, treating what stops as a defined, completable task: you aufhören smoking, but you beenden a contract.
Both are more formal than aufhören, but einstellen specifically implies an institutional or official halt — a company, a court, an authority stopping something. beenden is more general: any deliberate completion of a defined task, official or not.
Practice
1 What does beenden mean?
to end, to finish (something)
2 Fill the gap: Wir müssen die Sitzung ___.
Full sentence: Wir müssen die Sitzung beenden. (We need to end the meeting.)
3 Which fingerprint chart matches beenden?
beenden: neutral register, common frequency, general domain, neutral connotation.
See also
Usage notes
be- here is a bound prefix, not a free word — much like the auf- in aufhören — so this entry skips a compound breakdown for the same reason: there's no standalone word "be" to point to as a component.
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