Learn Hardcore French: Tu commences à chanter maintenant.

In French, verbs ending in -er are typically conjugated differently for each subject pronoun. For commencer, when using tu (2nd person singular), you add -es at the end, resulting in commences. Using tu commence would be incorrect because commence is the 1st or 3rd person singular form (e.g., je commence, il/elle commence).

Why is there a preposition à before chanter?

In French, certain verbs require the preposition à before another verb in the infinitive. Commencer is one of them. So, whenever you say that you start to do something in French, you use the structure commencer à + infinitive.

Is it necessary to say maintenant, or can I leave it out?

You can omit maintenant if the context already makes it clear that you are starting to sing now. However, adding maintenant emphasizes that it’s happening at this very moment. If you drop maintenant, the sentence would be Tu commences à chanter, which can still mean you’re starting to sing, but without specifying that it’s happening right now.

Can I use vous instead of tu in this sentence?

Yes. In French, tu is the informal singular form, and vous can be used either for formal/polite speech or when addressing multiple people. If you need to be polite or are speaking to more than one person, you’d say Vous commencez à chanter maintenant.

How do I pronounce commences correctly?

The -es ending in commences sounds like the unstressed “uh” in “comma” (ko-MONSS roughly). Make sure to keep the c in the second syllable soft, as in an “s” sound in English (the same as in “cinema”).