〜かける details
write + come close to doing
kaki kakeru
come close to doing; start doing but stop partway
meaning: come close to writing
事故で死にかけるが、なんとか助かった。
jiko de shini kakeru ga, nantoka tasukatta.
I come close to dying in the accident, but I somehow survived. neutral
何か言いかけたけど、やめとくね。
nanika iikaketa kedo, yametoku ne.
I started to say something, but never mind, I'll leave it. casual
- past
- polite
Examples
come close to doing / start doing but stop partway — the event is imminent or already underway, and then halts before completion
事故で死にかけたが、なんとか助かった。
jiko de shinikaketa ga, nantoka tasukatta.
I came close to dying in the accident, but I somehow survived. neutral
何か言いかけたけど、やめとくね。
nanika iikaketa kedo, yametoku ne.
I started to say something, but never mind, I'll leave it. casual
資料はほぼ完成しかけておりましたが、急な仕様変更で最初からやり直すことになりました。
shiryou wa hobo kansei shikakete orimashita ga, kyuu na shiyou henkou de saisho kara yarinaosu koto ni narimashita.
The materials were nearly finished, but a sudden spec change meant starting over from scratch. formal
Formation
{V-masu-stem}かけるattaches to ます-stem
Notes
and 死にかけて死んだ (didn't make it) are both grammatical; かける only
commits to "got close," never to how it resolved.
Related patterns
Similar
死に始めた would report a plain, ongoing onset; 死にかけた instead freezes the moment right at the threshold — the event got dangerously close to happening and then didn't finish, a reading 始める cannot carry at all.
死にそう is a prediction from the outside — it looks that way, nothing has actually started; 死にかけた reports real progress already made toward the outcome, so かける needs an actual near-event, not just an impression.
Both mark an onset mid-event, but 出す commits — the action is fully underway and often out of anyone's control (降り出す, it started raining in earnest), while かける stalls right at the threshold and can stop there (言いかけてやめた, "he started to say it and then stopped").