La búsqueda empieza hoy.

In Spanish, abstract nouns are often used with a definite article more often than in English. So la búsqueda sounds natural for the search.

You can sometimes drop the article in other contexts, but in a sentence like this, la búsqueda is the normal choice.

• La búsqueda empieza hoy. = The search begins today.

Búsqueda is a noun related to the verb buscar, meaning to search or to look for.

So:

• buscar = to search / to look for
• búsqueda = search, searching

This is similar to English pairs like to investigate / investigation, where the noun is built from the verb, though the form changes.

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: BÚS-que-da.

Without the written accent, standard Spanish stress rules would make you stress a different syllable. The accent is there to show the correct pronunciation.

So pronounce it roughly as:

• BÚS-que-da

Yes, empieza and comienza are very similar here.

They come from:

• empezar = to begin, to start
• comenzar = to begin, to start

So you could also say:

• La búsqueda comienza hoy.

Both are natural. Empezar is extremely common in everyday Spanish.

Because the sentence needs a conjugated verb, not the infinitive.

• empezar = infinitive, to begin
• empieza = begins / starts

Since the subject is la búsqueda (third person singular), the verb must also be third person singular:

• La búsqueda empieza hoy.

This is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the e in the stem changes to ie in many forms.

So:

• empezar → empiezo, empiezas, empieza, empezamos, empezáis, empiezan

Notice that nosotros and vosotros do not change the stem:

• empezamos
• empezáis

Here, the subject is la búsqueda, so we use the él/ella/usted form:

• empieza

Yes. By itself, empieza can mean:

• he starts
• she starts
• it starts
• you start (formal, singular)

In this sentence, the subject is clearly la búsqueda, so here it means it begins/starts, referring to the search.

Spanish often uses the present tense to talk about scheduled or definite present/future events, just like English does.

So La búsqueda empieza hoy uses the present tense naturally to mean that the starting point is today.

This is very normal in Spanish.

Yes. That is also correct.

• La búsqueda empieza hoy. = The search begins today.
• La búsqueda va a empezar hoy. = The search is going to begin today.

The first is more direct and concise. The second highlights the idea of going to start. In many contexts, both work well.

Putting hoy at the end is the most neutral and natural order here.

• La búsqueda empieza hoy.

You can move hoy for emphasis, for example:

• Hoy empieza la búsqueda.

That version puts more focus on today. Both are correct, but they have slightly different emphasis.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• la BOOS-ke-da em-PYE-tha oy in much of Spain

In standard Spain Spanish:

• z in búsqueda sounds like the th in think
• c before e/i also has that sound, but there is no such case here
• empieza is stressed on pie

More carefully:

• La búsqueda empieza hoy
• la BÚS-que-da em-PIE-za hoy

In many parts of Latin America, z is pronounced like s, but in Spain the th-like pronunciation is standard.

Yes, absolutely.

• La búsqueda empieza hoy.
• Hoy empieza la búsqueda.

Both are correct. The difference is emphasis:

• La búsqueda empieza hoy = neutral statement
• Hoy empieza la búsqueda = stronger focus on today

English does something similar with stress and word order, though Spanish often allows this movement more freely.