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

1. 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			gerund of avoir + 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	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + 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	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	comence	—	començons	comenciez	—

Derived terms

• comencement
• recommencier

Descendants

• → English: commence
• Middle French: commencer
  • French: commencer
• Norman: c'menchi (Jersey), c'menchier (Guernsey)
• Picard: kmincher
• Walloon: kimincî