始める: starting an activity. The examples use polite Japanese in everyday situations.
The idea
始める is an ichidan verb: remove final る before adding ます or て. The polite non-past, negative and past forms are 始めます、始めません、始めました. The て form is 始めて. The thing affected by the action can be marked by を. Attach 始める to the ます stem of another verb to say that an action begins, as in 勉強し始めます.
| Dictionary form | Polite non-past | Polite negative | Polite past | て form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 始める | 始めます | 始めません | 始めました | 始めて |
Examples
- 先生は授業を始めます。The teacher starts the class.
- 七時に仕事を始めました。I started work at seven.
- 来週、日本語を勉強し始めます。Next week I will start studying Japanese.
- 会議を始めてください。Please start the meeting.
- まだ宿題を始めません。I will not start the homework yet.
- 母は去年、ピアノを習い始めました。My mother started taking piano lessons last year.
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Watch out
始める describes an action on something; its intransitive partner 始まる describes the change.
Try it yourself
（始める→ます）＿
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始めます
始めます is the polite non-past form; context can indicate a habit or a future event.
（始める→て）＿
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始めて
始めて is the て form; it can connect clauses.
授業＿始めます。（が／を）
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を
を marks the direct object of the action.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Japanese sentences where available. We keep your score.
（始める→ます）＿
（始める→て）＿
授業＿始めます。（が／を）
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Make an original sentence, change it to the polite past and identify its particle. Compare your sentence with the examples.