kaigi wa sorosoro hajimarimasu.

The meeting will start soon.

Breakdown of kaigi wa sorosoro hajimarimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 始はじまる: to start
• 会議かいぎ: meeting
• そろそろ: soon

Questions & Answers about kaigi wa sorosoro hajimarimasu.

What does は do in this sentence?

は marks 会議 as the topic of the sentence.

So 会議はそろそろ始まります is literally something like:

• As for the meeting, it will start soon.

In natural English, we usually just say The meeting will start soon.

A common beginner confusion is thinking は always means is or always marks the subject. It does not. Here, it introduces what the sentence is about: the meeting.

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Why is it 始まります and not 始めます?

This is about the difference between an intransitive and a transitive verb.

• 始まる（はじまる） = to begin / to start
  
  • something starts by itself
• 始める（はじめる） = to start something
  
  • someone starts something

In this sentence, the meeting itself is beginning, so Japanese uses 始まります from 始まる.

Compare:

• 会議は始まります。 = The meeting starts.
• 部長が会議を始めます。 = The manager starts the meeting.

So 始まります is the correct choice here.

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What exactly does そろそろ mean?