La floración empezó esta semana.

Empezó is the preterite, which is used for a completed event or a clear starting point in the past. Here, the sentence is talking about the moment the flowering began, so Spanish uses the preterite.

Empezaba would be the imperfect, which usually gives background information or describes something ongoing in the past. It would sound more like was beginning or would need a wider context.

So:

• La floración empezó esta semana = the flowering started this week.
• La floración empezaba... = the flowering was starting... / used to start..., depending on context.

Empezó is:

• 3rd person singular
• preterite
• from the verb empezar = to begin / to start

It matches la floración, which is a singular noun, so the verb is singular too.

A quick breakdown:

• yo empecé
• tú empezaste
• él/ella/usted empezó

The written accent in empezó is important.

It shows that the stress falls on the last syllable: em-pe-zó.

Without the accent, empezo would not follow normal Spanish spelling rules and would be incorrect. In verb forms like this, the accent often helps distinguish the correct pronunciation and tense form.

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does. La floración means the flowering / the blooming period.

In English, we might sometimes drop the article depending on style, but in Spanish it is very normal to include it with nouns like this, especially when talking about a specific process or phenomenon.

So la here is not strange or extra — it sounds natural.

Floración is a noun meaning flowering, blooming, or the flowering period.

It comes from flor = flower.

It is often used in:

• gardening
• botany
• agriculture
• weather or seasonal reports

So this sentence sounds like something you might read in a nature report, farming update, or gardening context.

Yes, but it would mean something slightly different.

• La floración empezó esta semana focuses on the flowering process / blooming season.
• Las flores empezaron esta semana sounds incomplete unless you add another verb, because las flores means the flowers themselves.

For example, you could say:

• Las flores salieron esta semana = the flowers came out this week
• Las flores empezaron a abrirse esta semana = the flowers started to open this week

So floración is the better noun if you want to talk about the overall blooming process.

In Spanish, expressions of time like hoy, ayer, esta semana, este año, and el lunes often do not need a preposition.

So:

• esta semana = this week
• este mes = this month
• este verano = this summer

Using en esta semana is possible in some contexts, but it usually sounds more marked, more specific, or less natural here. In this sentence, esta semana is the normal choice.

Yes. Esta semana refers to the current week, and Spanish can still use the preterite if the speaker sees the action as a completed event within that time period.

So La floración empezó esta semana means the starting point happened during this week, even if the week is not over yet.

This is normal in many varieties of Spanish, including Spain, although in Spain you may also hear the present perfect in similar contexts:

• La floración ha empezado esta semana

Both can be possible, depending on how the speaker frames the event.

Often, yes. In many parts of Spain, the present perfect is very common with time periods connected to the present, such as:

• hoy
• esta semana
• este mes
• este año

So in Spain, you may very naturally hear:

• La floración ha empezado esta semana

That said, empezó is still perfectly correct Spanish. The choice depends on region, style, and whether the speaker feels the event is simply past or still connected to the present moment.

A rough pronunciation is:

flo-ra-THYON in much of Spain
or flo-ra-SYON in Latin American pronunciation

More precisely in Spain:

• flo as in flow without the English diphthong being too strong
• ra
• ción with stress on the last syllable

The ci before ó is pronounced like thy in much of Spain because of distinción:

• ción → roughly thyon

The stress is on -ción, which is why there is an accent mark.

Yes. Both mean to begin.

So you could also say:

• La floración comenzó esta semana

This means basically the same thing.
A few learners notice that comenzar can sound slightly more formal or written in some contexts, but both are common and correct.

The given order is the most neutral:

• La floración empezó esta semana

Spanish word order is flexible, so you could also say:

• Esta semana empezó la floración

That version puts more focus on this week. It might sound a bit more narrative or emphatic, but it is still natural.

So the original sentence is the straightforward, neutral way to say it.