開始下雪了。

It was beginning to snow.

It began to snow.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 開始 kāishǐ
  1. to begin
  2. beginning
  3. to start
  4. initial

classifier: 個
2 下雪 xiàxuě to snow
=3 了 le
  1. (completed action marker)
  2. (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now)
  3. (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
=3 了 liǎo
  1. to finish
  2. (used with 得 dé or 不 bù after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了 wàngbuliǎo "cannot forget")
  3. (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 无 wú or 不 bù) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least
  4. to understand clearly (variant of 了 liǎo)
=3 了 liǎo
  1. (of eyes) bright
  2. clear-sighted
  3. to understand clearly
=3 了 liào unofficial variant of 瞭 liào