私がちょうど出かけようとしていたとき、雨が降りだした。

I; me; private affairs; personal matter; secrecy; selfishness

indicates sentence subject (occasionally object); indicates possessive (esp. in literary expressions); but; however; still; and

just; right; exactly

to go out (e.g. on an excursion or outing); to leave; to depart; to start; to set out; to be about to leave; to be just going out

if; when; and; with; particle used for quoting (with speech, thoughts, etc.); quoting particle; promoted pawn; indicates question (sentence end)

to do; to cause to become; to make (into); to turn (into); to serve as; to act as; to work as; to wear (clothes, a facial expression, etc.); to judge as being; to view as being; to think of as; to treat as; to use as; to decide on; to choose; to be sensed (of a smell, noise, etc.); to be (in a state, condition, etc.); to be worth; to cost; to pass (of time); to elapse; verbalizing suffix (applies to nouns noted in this dictionary with the part of speech "vs"); creates a humble verb (after a noun prefixed with "o" or "go"); to be just about to; to be just starting to; to try to; to attempt to

regular (stops at every station) Jouetsu-line Shinkansen

rain

to descend; to go down; to come down; to be handed down (of an order, judgment, etc.); to pass (of time); to surrender; to capitulate; (often in neg. form) to be less than; to be inferior to; to have the runs; to have diarrhea