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commencer: Conjugation

The commencer conjugation tables below show how to form the French verb commencer according to tense and person. To listen to the pronunciation of a given tense of commencer, click on the loudspeaker icon at the bottom of the table. See the notes on the conjugation of commencer at the end of this page.

Present	Perfect
je commence tu commences il/elle commence nous commençons vous commencez ils/elles commencent Pronounce these verb forms	j' ai commencé tu as commencé il/elle a commencé nous avons commencé vous avez commencé ils/elles ont commencé Pronounce these verb forms
Imperfect	Pluperfect
je commençais tu commençais il/elle commençait nous commencions vous commenciez ils/elles commençaient Pronounce these verb forms	j' avais commencé tu avais commencé il/elle avait commencé nous avions commencé vous aviez commencé ils/elles avaient commencé Pronounce these verb forms
Future	Future-perfect
je commencerai tu commenceras il/elle commencera nous commencerons vous commencerez ils/elles commenceront Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurai commencé tu auras commencé il/elle aura commencé nous aurons commencé vous aurez commencé ils/elles auront commencé Pronounce these verb forms
Conditional	Conditional perfect
je commencerais tu commencerais il/elle commencerait nous commencerions vous commenceriez ils/elles commenceraient Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurais commencé tu aurais commencé il/elle aurait commencé nous aurions commencé vous auriez commencé ils/elles auraient commencé Pronounce these verb forms
Present subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
je commence tu commences il/elle commence nous commencions vous commenciez ils/elles commencent Pronounce these verb forms	j' aie commencé tu aies commencé il/elle ait commencé nous ayons commencé vous ayez commencé ils/elles aient commencé Pronounce these verb forms
Past historic	Past anterior
je commençai tu commenças il/elle commença nous commençâmes vous commençâtes ils/elles commencèrent Pronounce these verb forms	j' eus commencé tu eus commencé il/elle eut commencé nous eûmes commencé vous eûtes commencé ils/elles eurent commencé Pronounce these verb forms

In terms of pronunciation, this is a completely regular -ar verb.

A slight complication affects the spelling only: when c is followed by a or o, it is replaced in the spelling by ç so that the [s] sound is preserved. (Normally in French spelling, c followed by a or o represents a [k] sound.)