O julgamento começa hoje.

Portuguese often uses the definite article more than English does. In this sentence, o julgamento means the trial / the judgment as a specific event that both speaker and listener can identify.

Leaving out the article is sometimes possible in Portuguese, but here o julgamento sounds the most natural.

• O julgamento começa hoje. = a specific trial starts today.
• Julgamento começa hoje can appear in headlines, where articles are often omitted.

Because julgamento is a masculine noun, so it takes o.

A useful pattern is that many nouns ending in -mento are masculine:

• o julgamento
• o documento
• o momento
• o sentimento

There is no absolute rule that works for every noun in Portuguese, but -mento is a very reliable masculine ending.

Because the subject is o julgamento, which is third person singular: it begins/starts.

The verb começar in the present tense goes like this:

• eu começo
• você / ele / ela começa
• nós começamos
• vocês / eles / elas começam

So:

• Eu começo hoje. = I start today.
• O julgamento começa hoje. = The trial starts today.

Começa is in the present indicative.

In Portuguese, just like in English, the present tense is often used for scheduled or near-future events:

• O julgamento começa hoje.
• A aula começa às oito.
• O filme estreia amanhã.

So even though the event may not have started yet at the exact moment of speaking, the present tense sounds natural because it is a planned or scheduled event.

The ç shows that the c is pronounced like an s sound before a, o, or u.

Without the cedilla, ca would sound like ka. So:

• começa is pronounced roughly ko-MEH-sa
• If it were written comeca, a Portuguese speaker would read it with a k sound, which would be wrong.

You only see ç before a, o, and u. Before e and i, regular c already has the soft sound:

• começa
• comecei

A rough Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation is:

oo zool-ga-MEN-too ko-MEH-sa O-zhee

A few notes:

• j in Brazilian Portuguese usually sounds like the s in measure or the zh sound.
• lh in julgamento is not an English l + h. In this word, though, the l is part of jul-, and the word sounds smoother than an English speaker may expect.
• ç sounds like s.
• hoje is roughly O-zhee in many Brazilian accents, though the final vowel can vary a bit.

Yes. Portuguese word order is flexible, especially with adverbs like hoje.

All of these are possible:

• O julgamento começa hoje.
• Hoje o julgamento começa.
• Hoje começa o julgamento.

They are all grammatical, but they can sound slightly different in focus:

• O julgamento começa hoje. → neutral statement
• Hoje o julgamento começa. → emphasizes today
• Hoje começa o julgamento. → also emphasizes today, and can sound a bit more dramatic or news-like

Yes. O julgamento vai começar hoje is also natural in Brazilian Portuguese.

The difference is:

• O julgamento começa hoje. = simple present; often used for scheduled events
• O julgamento vai começar hoje. = near future; emphasizes that it is going to start

Both are correct. The first is a bit more compact and common in formal statements, schedules, and news-style language.

It depends on context.

In legal contexts, julgamento often means trial or judgment/proceedings, depending on what stage is being discussed. In many everyday examples like this one, learners will most naturally understand it as the trial.

Portuguese julgamento can cover a range of ideas connected to judging, deciding, or legal judgment, so context matters a lot.

It is neutral and completely natural. It works well in everyday speech, writing, and news language.

It is not especially casual, but it is not overly formal either. A news report, a lawyer, or an ordinary person could all say:

O julgamento começa hoje.

Yes. O julgamento inicia hoje is possible, but começa is usually the more common and natural everyday choice in Brazilian Portuguese.

Compare:

• O julgamento começa hoje. → very common, neutral
• O julgamento inicia hoje. → more formal or institutional in tone

You may also hear:

• O julgamento tem início hoje. → quite formal, often used in official or news contexts