始まる (hajimaru) conjugation
(something) begins
始まる (はじまる, hajimaru) is a godan verb. Godan verbs change their final kana up and down its column of the kana chart — the a-row for negatives, the i-row before ます, the e-row for potential and ば. Every form below is tappable — hear it, then say it back.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | 始まる hajimaru | 始まります hajimarimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 始まらない hajimaranai | 始まりません hajimarimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 始まった hajimatta | 始まりました hajimarimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 始まらなかった hajimaranakatta | 始まりませんでした hajimarimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 始まって hajimatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 始まっている hajimatteiru | 始まっています hajimatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 始まりたい hajimaritai | 始まりたいです hajimaritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 始まろう hajimarou | 始まりましょう hajimarimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 始まれる hajimareru | 始まれます hajimaremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 始まられる hajimarareru | 始まられます hajimararemasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 始まらせる hajimaraseru | 始まらせます hajimarasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 始まらされる hajimarasareru | 始まらされます hajimarasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 始まれ hajimare | 始まってください hajimattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 始まるな hajimaruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 始まれば hajimareba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 始まったら hajimattara | — | “if / when ~”. The everyday conditional. |
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Why it conjugates this way
Godan verbs change their final kana up and down its column of the kana chart — the a-row for negatives, the i-row before ます, the e-row for potential and ば.
See the full rules on the verb conjugation guide.