文法の説明

N4 レッスン 2: 6/17

始(はじ)める

To start, To begin to

使い方・接続

Verb［ます］+ はじめる

詳細

  • 使用域

    Standard

  • 使用域

    一般

「はじめる」の情報

To express that actions are beginning or ending in Japanese, the verbs 始(はじ)める (to commence), or 終(お)わる (to end) will need to be used. In this lesson, we will focus on actions that are 'beginning'.
To say that (A) is starting/beginning, we will need to attach はじめる to the ます stem of almost any verb. Whether you use the hiragana form, or the kanji form does not matter, as there will be no change in nuance.
  • 来月(らいげつ)からお金(かね)をため始(はじ)めます。
    I will start saving money from next month.
  • 歌(うた)を歌(うた)い始(はじ)める。
    To start singing a song.
Due to はじめる being a verb itself, the tense can be changed, to show that something will start, is starting, or has started.
  • 明日(あした)から日本語(にほんご)を習(なら)い始(はじ)める。
    I will start learning Japanese from tomorrow. (Will start)
  • 雨(あめ)が降(ふ)り始(はじ)めてきた。
    It is starting to rain. (Is starting)
  • 高校生(こうこうせい)の時(とき)にお金(かね)を貯(た)め始(はじ)めた。
    I started saving up money when I was in high school. (Has started)
Caution
It can be easy to accidentally use 始(はじ)まる, the intransitive form of this verb. However, with this expression, the transitive form will always be used, due to the verb that はじめる is attached to being the thing that 'is started', by 'something' else.

例文

  • 今朝(けさ)、雪(ゆき)が降(ふ)り始(はじ)めた。

    It started to snow this morning.

    • 明日(あした)から、日本語(にほんご)を習(なら)い始(はじ)めます。

      I will start learning Japanese from tomorrow.

      • 大学(だいがく)を卒業(そつぎょう)してから、仕事(しごと)に行(い)き始(はじ)めた。

        I started going to work after graduation from college.

        • 日本(にほん)に行(い)ってから、文法(ぶんぽう)を勉強(べんきょう)し始(はじ)めた。

          I started studying grammar after going to Japan.

          • 練習(れんしゅう)し始(はじ)めてください。

            Please begin to practice.

            • ご登録いただくと、より多くの例文にアクセスできます。

              登録すると他の例文が見れるようになります！

            自作の例文

            自分なりの勉強をする！

            文章を追加し、Bunproの文章と一緒に勉強する。

            「はじめる」に関する文法ディスカッション

            最近の返信 (合計15件)

            • Yumari-1

              Yumari-1

              Thanks for the quick answer!

              I think I get it now. The point being that the main meaning of から is always “from/because” and if we change てから to たから, the から particle reverts back to its more primary meaning (no longer means “once … then something else”) and hence stops working with this particular example.

              I hope my understanding is not messed up.

            • Hqrshy

              Hqrshy

              I’ve seen other stuff like this and I am kind of confused. Why is it はじめた instead of はじまた because nobody is causing the snow to fall, it is falling by itself shouldn’t the intransitive version be used?

            • nekoyama

              nekoyama

              When 始める is used as an auxiliary, the main verb is what determines transitivity. 降り始める is therefore intransitive because 降る is intransitive.

              You can think of it as 降り acting as the object for 始める.

              始まる isn’t used as an auxiliary and if it was, its past form would be 始まった.

            「はじめる」について質問がありますか？ 話し合ったり、質問をしてみんなで学びましょう！

            ディスカッションに参加する