comencier
Old French
Alternative forms
- commencier
- conmencier
- cumancier
- cumencer
- cumencier
- comenchier
- conmenchier
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *cominitiō, *cominitiāre, from com- + Latin initiāre, present active infinitive of initiō. Compare Catalan començar, Italian cominciare, Portuguese começar, Romansch cumanzar, Spanish comenzar.
Verb
comencier
- to start; to begin
Conjugation
This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -ier, with a palatal stem. These verbs are conjugated mostly like verbs in -er, but there is an extra i before the e of some endings. The forms that would normally end in *-c, *-cs, *-ct are modified to z, z, zt. In addition, c becomes ç before an a, o or u to keep the /ts/ sound intact. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of comencier (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | comencier | avoir comencié | |||||
| gerund | en començant | Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| present participle | començant | ||||||
| past participle | comencié | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses | present | comenz | comences | comence | començons | comenciez | comencent |
| imperfect | començoie, comenceie, començoe, comencieve | començoies, comenceies, començoes, comencieves | començoit, comenceit, començot, comencieve | comenciiens, comenciens | comenciiez, comenciez | començoient, comenceient, començoent, comencievent | |
| preterite | començai | començas | comença | començames | començastes | comencierent | |
| future | comencerai | comenceras | comencera | comencerons | comenceroiz, comencereiz, comencerez | comenceront | |
| conditional | comenceroie, comencereie | comenceroies, comencereies | comenceroit, comencereit | comenceriiens, comenceriens | comenceriiez, comenceriez | comenceroient, comencereient | |
| compound tenses | present perfect | Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | Use the preterite tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses | present | comenz | comenz | comenzt | començons | comenciez | comencent |
| imperfect | començasse | començasses | començast | comencissons, comencissiens | comencissoiz, comencissez, comencissiez | començassent | |
| compound tenses | past | Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | comence | — | començons | comenciez | — | ||
Derived terms
- comencement
- recommencier
Descendants
- English: commence (borrowed)
- Middle French: commencer
- French: commencer
- Norman: c'menchi (Jersey), c'menchier (Guernsey)
- Picard: kmincher
- Walloon: kimincî