words - Can someone help explain the difference between Hajimeru and Hajimaru?

What is the difference between 始める{はじめる} (hajimeru) and 始まる{はじまる} (hajimaru)?

Would appreciate some advice on this.

Thanks

Answer

In a nutshell, both hajimeru and hajimaru mean "to start".

More specifically, hajimeru is transitive -- "to start something". Meanwhile, hajimaru is intransitive -- it cannot take an object, so "something starts (on its own)".

There are several verb pairs like this, all with -meru / -maru endings: hiromeru "to widen something" vs. hiromaru "something widens (on its own)"; katameru "to harden something" vs. katamaru "something hardens on its own"; osameru "to quell something, to put something under control" vs. osamaru "something quells, something becomes under control", etc. etc.