Currently at Level 37 doing N4 Lesson 1. I am stumped by the conjugation for 始まった. What is the original word that resulted in a った conjugation? I feel that I have a huge knowledge gap for this lesson as I’ve never encountered the dictionary or plain form of 始まった yet but this is the first sentence in my Review for this lesson. So from now on, yes, I’ll be able to memorize that answer but it doesn’t help me remember the lesson at all.
Any help or tips are welcome.
The original verbs in this example are 始める・始まる.
始める is an ichidan/る-verb.
始まる is a godan/う-verb.
Both verbs are in short past form.
始まる is the “original” form of 始まった.
My big “aha” moment for understanding transitive vs intransitive was when I realized that any verb you would use to ask someone to do something (using 下さい for example) is transitive and the other form of the verb is intransitive. It seems obvious in hindsight, but that’s when it finally clicked for me.
For instance:
To drop:
落とす → 落として下さい (please drop it)
落ちる → you can’t ask someone to do this.
ボールを落として下さい (Please drop the ball)
ボールが落ちました (The ball dropped)
To open:
開ける → 開けて下さい (please open it)
開く → you can’t ask someone to do this.
ドアを開けて下さい (Please open the door)
ドアが開きました (The door opened)
I hope this helps!
The other answers are correct but I have a reccomendation also.
Install the ‘yomitan’ extension for chrome which will allow you to look up words and tell you verb conjugations with a hover of your mouse when online. (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/yomitan/likgccmbimhjbgkjambclfkhldnlhbnn) and install the dictionary to go with it (Jitendex – Installation Instructions - towards bottom of page ‘jitendex for yomitan’, you dont have to unzip the rar file to add it as a dicitionary to yomitan). Hope this helps!
D’oh! I was too preoccupied with the iru/eru I forgot about the aru/oru/uru.
Thanks so much!
Cool! I think I need to practice using all those other verbs I’ve learned and move away from the basic ones. Or I just need to practice, period.
Thanks so much!
I just did. Thanks so much for your instructions!