Half-done: 〜かける・〜かけの
Verb ます-stem + かける / かけの + Noun / かけだ
ます-stem + かける: an action begun but unfinished (読みかけの本), or “nearly” with a sudden change (死にかけた). Watch out for 話しかける (speak to someone).
In short
〜かける shows that an action has started but hasn't been finished: 読みかけの本, “a half-read book”. With a verb describing a sudden change, it means “nearly, be on the point of”: 死にかけた, “I nearly died”.
- 机の上に、読みかけの本が置いてある。つくえのうえに、よみかけのほんがおいてある。There's a half-read book on the desk.
- 何か言いかけて、彼女はやめた。なにかいいかけて、かのじょはやめた。She started to say something, then stopped.
- 子どものころ、川で溺れかけたことがある。こどものころ、かわでおぼれかけたことがある。As a child, I once nearly drowned in a river.
The basics
〜かける shows an action caught in the middle: it's started, but it stopped along the way or isn't finished yet. 読みかけの本 is the book with a bookmark in the middle; 食べかけのパン, the half-eaten bread — English “half-…”, “started…”.
With verbs of sudden change (死ぬ, 溺れる, 転ぶ, 寝る), the meaning becomes “nearly, on the point of”: the change started to happen, but not all the way.
a half-read book
- verb
- grammatical form
- particle
- noun
- 作りかけの料理を置いたまま、出かけてしまった。つくりかけのりょうりをおいたまま、でかけてしまった。I went out leaving the dish I was making half-finished.
- 電車の中で寝かけたとき、駅に着いた。でんしゃのなかでねかけたとき、えきについた。Just as I was nodding off on the train, we arrived at the station.
How to form it
ます-stem + かける. It conjugates like a る-verb (かけた, かけている). Before a noun, use the noun form かけ + の: 飲みかけのコーヒー. At the end of a sentence: 〜かけだ.
| Form | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 〜かける | 言いかける | start to say (and stop) |
| 〜かけた | 死にかけた | nearly died |
| 〜かけている | 忘れかけている | be gradually forgetting |
| 〜かけの + Noun | 飲みかけのコーヒー | a half-drunk coffee |
| 〜かけだ | この仕事はまだやりかけだ | this job is still unfinished |
- この仕事は、まだやりかけです。このしごとは、まだやりかけです。This job is still unfinished.
- 紅葉が色づきかけている。もみじがいろづきかけている。The maples are starting to change colour.
かける, はじめる, そうだ
〜はじめる (N4) announces the start of an action that will carry on normally: 読みはじめる, “to start reading”. 〜かける stresses the unfinished or interrupted state.
〜そうだ (N4) is a prediction from what you see (倒れそうだ, “it looks like it's going to fall”): nothing has started yet. 〜かける says the thing really began to happen (倒れかけた, “it started to fall, it nearly fell”).
- 雨が降りはじめた。あめがふりはじめた。It's started raining.
- 今にも雨が降りそうだ。いまにもあめがふりそうだ。It looks as if it could rain any minute.
Watch out for false friends
かける is also a verb in its own right (to hang, to phone, to wear glasses…) and forms fixed compound verbs. The trickiest: 話しかける doesn't mean “start to talk”, but “speak to someone, address someone”. Likewise, 呼びかける = “to make an appeal”, 出かける = “to go out”.
- 外国人に英語で話しかけられた。がいこくじんにえいごではなしかけられた。A foreigner spoke to me in English.
Common mistakes
- Taking 話しかける as “start to talk”: it means “approach someone, speak to them”. For “start to say something, then stop”, it's 言いかける.
- Mixing up かける (action really begun) and そうだ (mere appearance, nothing has started).
- Forgetting の before the noun: 読みかけの本, not “読みかけ本”.
7 exercises on this point
Particles to choose, sentences to put back in order, translations: marked straight away, then reviewed at the right time. This JLPT N3 point is on the Eizan Line (The body and health) of the Kyoto lines.