Commencer: Full Verb Reference

Commencer is the verb to begin, to start. It is one of the highest-frequency verbs in French and the canonical model for the -cer family — verbs whose stem ends in c and whose conjugation requires one tiny, automatic spelling adjustment: the c must become ç (c cédille) before any ending that begins with a or o. Nous commençons, not nous commencons. Je commençais, not je commencais. Il commença, not il commenca. This is purely orthographic — the pronunciation never changes.

Why? Because the letter c in French has two sounds. Before e, i, and y, it is the soft /s/ (ce, ci, cycle). Before a, o, and u, it is the hard /k/ (English cat). To keep the soft /s/ sound of commencer throughout the conjugation, French marks the c with a cedilla whenever the next vowel would be a or o. The cedilla doesn't add a sound; it just blocks the c from going hard.

The same rule applies to every -cer verb in the language: lancer, placer, avancer, prononcer, annoncer, effacer, déplacer, remplacer, foncer, percer, exercer, agacer, balancer, menacer, divorcer, renoncer, rincer, pincer, glacer, forcer, tracer. Master commencer and you have the template for the entire family.

The verb itself is high-frequency, transitive (commencer un projet) and intransitive (la réunion commence à neuf heures), and pivots into two essential prepositional constructions: commencer à + infinitive (start to do) and commencer par + infinitive (begin by doing — sequence). This page covers everything.

The simple tenses

These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary. Commencer is regular -er in stem and endings, with the -cer spelling adjustment kicking in before any vowel that's a or o. We'll flag every form where the cedilla matters.

Présent de l'indicatif

Standard -er endings on the commenc- stem, with the cedilla at nous commençons. The cedilla is silent — it exists only to keep the c soft.

The 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, and 3pl all sound identical (/kɔ.mɑ̃s/) — typical -er silent endings. Vous commencez doesn't need the cedilla because the ending starts with e (the c stays soft on its own). Nous commençons does need it: the ending -ons starts with o, which would force the c to go hard if no cedilla were applied.

Imparfait

The imparfait is where the cedilla rule pays off most often. Endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient — the ones starting with a (-ais, -ait, -aient) all need the cedilla; the ones starting with i (-ions, -iez) don't.

The split inside the imparfait is critical: 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, and 3pl all carry the cedilla (because their endings start with a); 1pl and 2pl don't (because their endings start with i, which already keeps the c soft). Je commençais /kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/, nous commencions /kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/ — both pronounced with soft /s/, but the cedilla only appears in writing where it's structurally needed.

Passé simple (literary)

The endings of the 1st-conjugation passé simple are -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent. The cedilla appears at: 1sg je commençai, 2sg tu commenças, 3sg il commença, 1pl nous commençâmes, 2pl vous commençâtes. At 3pl ils commencèrent, the ending starts with è (e with grave) — the c is already soft before è, so no cedilla is needed.

The 3sg form il commença is the diagnostic literary form — instantly recognizable as passé simple of commencer in any classic 19th-century novel.

Futur simple

Stem: the full infinitive commencer-, plus standard endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. Because the futur stem ends in -er (the e of the infinitive), no cedilla is needed at any person — the c is followed by e throughout.

A common slip: learners sometimes overcorrect and write je commencerai with a cedilla, but the e of the infinitive already softens the c. Cedilla is only needed when the next letter is a, o, or u.

Conditionnel présent

Same commencer- base with imparfait endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. As with the futur, no cedilla is needed because the stem already ends in e.

Subjonctif présent

Standard subjunctive endings on the commenc- stem. No cedilla needed at any person — all subjunctive endings start with e or i, both of which keep the c soft on their own.

Note the subjunctive 1pl commencions and 2pl commenciez are spelled identically to the imparfait. The presence of que and the discourse context disambiguate.

Impératif

Three forms. The tu imperative drops the -s — commence, not commences. The nous imperative commençons is the same as the present and keeps the cedilla.

Participles and gérondif

• Participe passé: commencé (regular -é; agrees with preceding direct object when avoir is auxiliary)
• Participe présent: commençant (note the cedilla — the ending -ant starts with a)
• Gérondif: en commençant

The participe présent and gérondif both keep the cedilla (commençant, en commençant) because the -ant ending starts with a.

The compound tenses

Commencer uses avoir as its auxiliary in all compound tenses. There is no cedilla in any compound form because the participle commencé uses é, which keeps the c soft.

Passé composé

avoir (présent) + commencé

Plus-que-parfait

avoir (imparfait) + commencé

Futur antérieur

avoir (futur) + commencé

Conditionnel passé

avoir (conditionnel) + commencé

Subjonctif passé

avoir (subjonctif) + commencé

The major uses

1. Commencer + direct object — to start (something)

The default transitive use. The thing being begun is a direct object, no preposition.

2. Commencer alone — to begin (intransitive)

When the subject is the event itself (a film, a meeting, a class, a phenomenon), commencer is intransitive.

The phrase ça commence bien, used ironically, is a high-frequency colloquial expression meaning "this is off to a great start" when something has gone wrong from the outset.

3. Commencer à + infinitive — to start (doing)

This is one of the most-used constructions with commencer. The preposition is always à, never de.

The construction commencer à + infinitive expresses inception — entry into an action or state. It's the closest French equivalent to English start to do / begin doing. There's no aspectual distinction between to start to do and to start doing in French — both translate as commencer à + infinitive.

4. Commencer par + infinitive — to begin by (doing)

The construction commencer par + infinitive expresses the first step in a sequence. It's not about inception (entering an action) but about ordering — what you do first.

The contrast with commencer à is sharp:

• Je commence à lire = I'm starting to read (entering the activity).
• Je commence par lire = I start by reading (first step in a sequence — implying other steps will follow).

5. Commencer par + noun — to start with (something)

The same par construction also takes a noun phrase, meaning to start with (a particular item, course, topic).

High-frequency commencer idioms

• commencer du bon pied — to get off to a good start (literally: to start on the good foot)
• pour commencer — to begin with, for starters
• commencer à zéro — to start from scratch (literally: to start at zero)
• commencer en fanfare — to start with a bang
• tout commencement est difficile (proverb) — every beginning is difficult
• au commencement (noun phrase) — in the beginning
• un nouveau commencement — a fresh start
• commencer par le commencement — to start at the very beginning

The -cer family

Every -cer verb in French follows the same cedilla rule. Here's the high-frequency core:

The pattern is identical: cedilla before a or o, no cedilla before e or i. If you can conjugate commencer, you can conjugate every verb in this family.

Commencer vs débuter

French has two everyday verbs for to begin: commencer and débuter. They overlap heavily but split along usage lines.

• commencer — the universal, default verb. Works for everything: events, activities, objects, abstract processes. All registers.
• débuter — slightly more formal or specialized. Often used for careers, performances, public events: il a débuté comme journaliste (he started out as a journalist), la pièce débute par un monologue (the play opens with a monologue).

In conversation, commencer is far more common. Débuter tends to appear in journalism, biography, and theater/film criticism.

Comparison with English

Three friction points:

1. The cedilla is mandatory. English has no equivalent — there is no diacritic that marks soft c before a and o. French learners must learn the rule once and apply it to every -cer verb forever. The good news: no exceptions, no irregularities — the rule is mechanical. Forgetting the cedilla is a stigmatized error in writing — commencons (without cedilla) immediately marks the writer as a non-native or careless.

2. The à/par split has no English parallel. English uses start

   • gerund or infinitive freely (start to read, start reading) for both inception and sequence. French separates them: commencer à lire = enter the activity of reading; commencer par lire = read first (then do something else). Choosing the wrong preposition produces a real meaning shift, not just a stylistic one.

3. No present continuous to lean on. English speakers can say the meeting is starting (continuous aspect for an event in progress). French has no productive present continuous — la réunion commence covers both the meeting starts (scheduled) and the meeting is starting (right now). For emphatic ongoing aspect, French falls back on être en train de commencer, but it's heavier and less common than the English progressive.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Forgetting the cedilla in nous commençons.

Mistake 2: Using de instead of à before an infinitive.

Mistake 3: Confusing commencer à and commencer par.

Mistake 4: Putting cedilla in the imparfait 1pl/2pl.

Mistake 5: Adding cedilla in futur and conditionnel.

Key takeaways

Commencer is a regular -er verb meaning to begin, to start. It uses avoir in all compound tenses (j'ai commencé). The conjugation contains exactly one quirk: the -cer spelling rule, which inserts a cedilla on the c before any ending starting with a or o. This affects nous commençons (present), je commençais / il commençait / ils commençaient (imparfait), the entire singular and 1pl/2pl of the passé simple (je commençai, il commença, nous commençâmes), and the participe présent commençant. The futur commencerai, conditionnel commencerais, and subjonctif commence require no cedilla because their endings start with e or i.

The two essential prepositional constructions split aspectually: commencer à + infinitive marks inception (entering an action — je commence à comprendre), while commencer par + infinitive marks the first step in a sequence (je commence par lui présenter mes excuses). Choose à for entering an activity; choose par when you mean "first I do this, then something else."

The entire -cer family — lancer, placer, avancer, prononcer, annoncer, effacer, déplacer, remplacer, foncer, exercer, menacer, renoncer, tracer, agacer — follows the same cedilla rule. Master commencer and you have the template for hundreds of verbs.