Commencer is a french first group verb. So it follow the regular conjugation pattern of the first group like:
aimer.
Follow this link to see all the endings of the conjugation of the first group verbs :
conjugation rules and endings for the first group verbs.
However, although the terminations are perfectly regular, stem can be irregular and have numerous variations.
Commencer is conjugated the same way that verbs that end in :
-cer.
For sound purpose, verbs ending in
-cer turn the stem letter
« c » in
« ç » with endings in
« -a » or
« -o ». Example:
« nous lançons »,
« lançant ».
Commencer is conjugated to the passive voice. Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb – that is, the person or thing that undergoes the action or has its state changed. This contrasts with active voice, in which the subject has the agent role. For example, in the passive sentence "The tree was pulled down", the subject (the tree) denotes the patient rather than the agent of the action. In contrast, the sentences "Someone pulled down the tree" and "The tree is down" are active sentences.
Exemple in french:
- active voice:
« Le chat mange la souris »
- passive voice:
« La souris est mangée par le chat »
Commencer verb is conjugated in female form and in passive voice. Be careful, the past participle must agree with the subject.
Commencer is conjugated in interro-negative form. The interro-negative form being obtained by inversion of the subject, the placement of the negative adverb follow the same rules as in negative form, giving the following rules:
- in interro-negative form, the adverb
« ne » is always placed first if the subject is a pronoun.
- in simple tenses, the adverbs (
« ne ...pas »,
« ne...plus »,
« ne...jamais », etc...) surround the verb
commencer and the inverted subject pronoun.
- in compound tenses or in passive voice, the negative adverbs surround the auxiliary and the inverted subject pronoun.
For sound reasons, like in interrogative form, an euphonious
« t » is added to the pronoun of the third person:
« il »,
« elle »,
« on »,
« ils »,
« elles » except when the verb ends with
« t » or
« d »:
« ne sera-t-elle pas commencée ? »,
« n'a-t-elle pas été commencée ? »,
« n'aura-t-elle pas été commencée ? ».
Finally, the interrogative form does not exist in subjunctive and imperative.
