始める details

write + begin doing

kaki hajimeru

begin doing

meaning: start writing

甥おいっ子こ、もう歩あるき始はじめたんだって。

oikko, mou arukihajimeta n datte.

I hear my little nephew has already started walking. casual

今月こんげつから日本語にほんごを習いならいはじめる。

kongetsu kara nihongo o narai hajimeru.

I start learning Japanese this month. neutral

past
polite

Examples

begin doing — the activity gets underway

甥おいっ子こ、もう歩あるき始はじめたんだって。

oikko, mou arukihajimeta n datte.

I hear my little nephew has already started walking. casual

今月こんげつから日本語にほんごを習ならい始はじめた。

kongetsu kara nihongo o naraihajimeta.

I started learning Japanese this month. neutral

雨あめが降ふり始はじめましたので、式しきは屋内おくないで行おこないます。

ame ga furihajimemashita node, shiki wa okunai de okonaimasu.

As it has started to rain, the ceremony will be held indoors. formal

Formation

{V-masu-stem}はじめるattaches to ます-stem

Notes

The compound always uses transitive 始める, whatever the base verb — 雨が降り始める, never ×降り始まる (始まる survives only as a main verb: 授業が始まる). For sudden, uncontrolled onsets Japanese prefers 〜出す — 泣き出した bursts where 泣き始めた merely commences.

Related patterns

Similar

続ける
Complementary phases of one aspect paradigm — 始めた places you just inside the event, 続けた presupposes an earlier stretch of it; 三年勉強し続けた entails a し始めた three years back, never the reverse.
てくる
Both report an onset — 雨が降り始めた states the phase change objectively from outside, while 雨が降ってきた reports it arriving at the speaker and carries an "I can feel it now" immediacy 始める lacks.

Opposite

終わるplain-antonym
The same masu-stem frame at opposite ends of the event — 始める opens activities and mere onsets alike (降り始める), while 終わる needs a completable activity, so 降り終わった sounds off where 降りやんだ is natural.

Lookalikes

ながら
Both bolt onto the masu-stem mid-word, but 読みながら opens a subordinate clause still waiting for its main verb, while 読み始める IS the main verb and can end the sentence on its own.

Same meaning

start to; begin doing

Pattern	Attaches to
`dasu` (planned)	—
`kakeru` (planned)	—