かけ・
Started, and not at the end yet. With something you do for a while, it is left half done: a half-read book, a sentence broken off. With a change that happens in a moment, it is close to happening, or nearly did.
half done
I put my half-read book on the desk.
broken off
He started to say something but suddenly fell silent.
nearly
I slipped and nearly fell down the stairs.
How to form it
Verb ます-stem + かける／かけの + noun／かけだ
読みます → 読みかける. Without る it works like a noun: 読みかけの本, まだ読みかけだ. Not every verb takes it; common ones are listed below.
- Before it
- Something you do for a while: 食べる, 読む, 書く, 言う. Or a change that happens in a moment: 落ちる, 消える, 死ぬ.
- Where you'll meet it
- Everyday talk and writing alike.
Ones you'll meet
食べかけhalf-eaten
I put the half-eaten bread in the fridge.
飲みかけhalf-drunk
My half-drunk coffee has gone cold.
書きかけhalf-written
This email is still only half written.
やりかけhalf-done, unfinished
I'll go home once I've finished off the job I'm in the middle of.
死にかけるnearly die
I once nearly died in the sea when I was a child.
消えかけるbe about to go out
The candle flame is about to go out in the wind.
People make others as they need them, with a verb of either kind.
話しかける is another word
話しかける (speak to someone), 出かける (go out), 見かける (catch sight of) and 追いかける (chase) are everyday words with meanings of their own. Nothing in them is half done.
A stranger spoke to me at the station.
Close neighbours
始めるN4
Reports the start and no more. かける adds that the end wasn't reached.
The students began reading the materials.
ところだったN3
The usual "nearly" for a close call, on almost any verb. It only says how near it came; かける says the thing had started.
I nearly fell down the stairs.
そうになるN4
Also "nearly", and commoner in conversation for a stumble or tears: it was about to happen and didn't. With かける it had started.
I nearly fell on the stairs.
Check yourself
1What is in the kitchen?
台所に
Choose an answer to see why.
2What happened?
強い風で
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
かけの goes with the "nearly" verbs too: nearly better, nearly broken.
My cold was nearly better, and then it got worse again.
死にそうだ is how it looks or feels: about to die. 死にかけている states it as a fact: the dying has started. The same goes for 消えそうだ and 消えかけている.
More sentences
I had just started writing the report when the power went out.
She started to answer, then thought better of it.
The door was starting to close, so I quickly reached out.
I was nodding off in the meeting, but I woke up when my name was called.