commencer
French
Alternative forms
- commancer (obsolete)
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French commencer, from Old French comencier, from Vulgar Latin *cominitiāre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/
audio (file)
Verb
commencer
- to begin, commence
- Ça commence à m’énerver.
- It's starting to get on my nerves.
- Il commençait à pleuvoir quand nous partîmes.
- It was beginning to rain when we left.
- 1956, Laurent Adler, À fleur de peau, Paris: Éditions de Paris:
- Georges poussa la porte, ouverte comme d’habitude. Il traversa à pas comptés le hall au carrelage glissant, trop bien astiqué, et commença de monter l’escalier.
- Georges pushed the door, which was open as usual. He gingerly crossed the hall with the slippery tiles, which had been polished too well, and began climbing up the stairs.
Conjugation
This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.
Conjugation of commencer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | commencer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | commençant /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | commencé /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commences /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commençons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/ |
commencez /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ |
commencent /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
| imperfect | commençais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/ |
commençais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/ |
commençait /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/ |
commencions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/ |
commenciez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/ |
commençaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | commençai /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ |
commenças /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/ |
commença /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/ |
commençâmes /kɔ.mɑ̃.sam/ |
commençâtes /kɔ.mɑ̃.sat/ |
commencèrent /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛʁ/ | |
| future | commencerai /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/ |
commenceras /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/ |
commencera /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/ |
commencerons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/ |
commencerez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/ |
commenceront /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | commencerais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/ |
commencerais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/ |
commencerait /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/ |
commencerions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
commenceriez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁje/ |
commenceraient /kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commences /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
commencions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/ |
commenciez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/ |
commencent /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
| imperfect2 | commençasse /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/ |
commençasses /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/ |
commençât /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/ |
commençassions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/ |
commençassiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sje/ |
commençassent /kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | commence /kɔ.mɑ̃s/ |
— | commençons /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/ |
commencez /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “commencer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French comencier.
Conjugation
- As parler except c becomes ç before a and o. May remain c in older manuscripts.
- Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.
Conjugation of commencer
| infinitive | simple | commencer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle1 or gerund2 | simple | commençant | |||||
| compound | present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | commencé | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | ie (i’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ilz, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | commence | commences | commence | commençons | commencez | commencent |
| imperfect | commençois, commençoys | commençois, commençoys | commençoit, commençoyt | commencions, commençons | commenciez, commencyez | commençoient, commençoyent | |
| past historic | commença | commenças | commença | commençasmes | commençastes | commencerent | |
| future | commencerai, commenceray | commenceras | commencera | commencerons | commencerez | commenceront | |
| conditional | commencerois, commenceroys | commencerois, commenceroys | commenceroit, commenceroyt | commencerions, commenceryons | commenceriez, commenceryez | commenceroient, commenceroyent | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que ie (i’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ilz, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | commence | commences | commence | commençons | commencez | commencent |
| imperfect | commençasse | commençasses | commençast | commençassions | commençassiez | commençassent | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | commence | — | commençons | commencez | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679. | |||||||
| 2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180). | |||||||
Descendants
- French: commencer (see there for further descendants)
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