LEARN + JAPANESE / 46 of 186 JLPT N4
Getting Into It, Wrapping It Up 〜はじめる・おわる
The film starts, the rain begins, the guests arrive: Japanese can turn each moment into one verb by adding はじめる to its stem. Add おわる when the action reaches its endpoint.
はじめる (to start) and おわる (to finish) attach directly to a verb’s stem, the part right before ます, turning any verb into “start doing X” or “finish doing X.”
I started talking at age two.
I started studying Japanese at thirteen.
Hint · 힌트
話す becomes 話しはじめる, 勉強する becomes 勉強しはじめる, the stem attaches directly with no extra connector needed, exactly the same mechanism that builds たい and たがる onto a verb.
Did you finish cleaning the room?
Did you finish making the sandwiches?
Hint · 힌트
終わる only works on verbs that describe something with a natural endpoint, cleaning a room, writing a report, eating a meal. It doesn’t attach comfortably to a state or an ongoing condition with no clear finish line, the same restriction that shapes which verbs 〜てしまう prefers later on.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| to fall (rain, snow) | |
| to wipe | |
| to set (a table) | |
| sandwich | |
| bicycle | |
| to learn, take lessons in | |
| to work | |
| to continue | |
| midway, in the middle of | |
| to complete | |
| to get started on | |
| conclusion, end | |
| start, commencement | |
| gradually | |
| suddenly | |
| for a while | |
| finally, at last | |
| at long last | |
| half | |
| to the very end |
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