~だす Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Auxiliary Verb (Group 1)
Essential Meaning: Begin to / Start to / X out
Construction:
- Verb ます-Form + 出す
- E.g. 話し出す [Begin to speak]
- E.g. 食べ出す [Begin to eat]
Notes:
- ~だす (~出す in kanji) has two interpretations depending on the speaker’s intent:
- (1) ~出す can indicate an abrupt, non-volitional beginning of some action. The action is interpreted as spontaneous or abrupt and is not brought about by the subject’s volition.
- E.g. 急に雨が降り出した。[It suddenly started to rain.]
- E.g. 一歳になって初めて歩き出した。[When he turned one, he suddenly began to walk.]
- (2) ~出す can also mean “X out“, as in “Jump out” or “Find out“. In this case, the action may be brought about by the speaker’s volition.
- E.g. 一時間ぐらいかけてとうとうその本屋を探し出した。[After searching for an hour, I finally found out the location of that bookstore.]
- E.g. そのアイディアは誰が考え出したんですか。[Who thought out that idea?]
- (1) ~出す can indicate an abrupt, non-volitional beginning of some action. The action is interpreted as spontaneous or abrupt and is not brought about by the subject’s volition.
- ~出す conjugates as a Group 1 verb (i.e. 出す、出さない、出します, et cetera.)
- The auxiliary verbs ~出す and ~はじめる are quite similar. The difference is that ~出す emphasizes spontaneity, abruptness, and non-volitionality, while ~はじめる is used more generally to express the start of some action.
- E.g. バスが動き出した。[The bus abruptly began to move.] ~出す indicates that the movement of the bus was abrupt and that the speaker did not cause the bus to move.
- E.g. バスが動きはじめた。[The bus began to move.] ~はじめる merely indicates that the bus began to move, but does not provide context about who caused the bus to move or in what fashion the bus began to move.
- E.g. そろそろ歩きはじめましょう。[Well then, shall we start walking?] This is a volitional sentence, so ~出す would be inappropriate in this case.
- E.g. 私たちが歩きはじめた時山田が来た。[When we started to walk, Yamada came.] This sentence expresses an abrupt and non-volitional action, so either ~はじめる or ~出す would work.
Example Sentences:
車が動き出した。[The car began to move.]
児童の飛び出しに注意。[Beware of children jumping out (onto the road).]
WILD Examples:
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