～始める
begin to / start doing
～始める（はじめる）attaches to the ます-stem of a verb and means that the action begins. The two verbs fuse into one compound verb: 泣く (to cry) → 泣き始める (to start crying).
It maps directly to English “start doing” / “begin to do”. The compound conjugates as a regular る-verb, so the tense goes on 始める: 泣き始めた = “started crying”.
Marking the start of an action
Use ～始める to point at the moment an action gets underway. Unlike ～出す (泣き出す), which suggests a sudden, often uncontrollable outburst, ～始める is neutral and works for both sudden and planned beginnings.
子供が泣き始めた。
“The child started crying.”
- 子供（こども）= child
- が = subject marker
- 泣き始めた（なきはじめた）= started crying
去年、日本語を勉強し始めました。
“I started studying Japanese last year.”
- 去年（きょねん）= last year
- 日本語（にほんご）= Japanese (language)
- を = object marker
- 勉強し始めました（べんきょうしはじめました）= started studying
How to form it
Verb ます-stem + 始める
- 泣く（なく）= to cry → 泣き始める（なきはじめる）= to start crying
- 読む（よむ）= to read → 読み始める（よみはじめる）= to start reading
- 降る（ふる）= to fall (rain) → 降り始める（ふりはじめる）= to start falling
Key idea
～始める focuses on the moment an action begins, without adding any special nuance about how or why it started.
Other N3 grammar
Updated .