Begin or began? What’s the difference?
The word (and verb) to begin means “to start doing something; to do the first part of something” (from Oxford Learner’s Dictionary). So, allow us to begin today’s lesson on the irregular verb, to begin … or began.
Begin, began, begun
| present | past | future | |
| simple | I begin | I began | I will begin |
| continuous | I am beginning | I was beginning | I will be beginning |
| perfect | I have begun | I had begun | I will have begun |
| perfect continuous | I have been beginning | I had been beginning | I will have been beginning |
When to use began or begun?
| simple past | The concert began with a fanfare from the brass section. |
| present perfect | The project has already begun, so we need to start working on it now. |
The first sentence uses began, which is the simple past conjugation. We communicate in the simple past to refer to actions or events that took place entirely in the past.
The past participle form is begun. It’s clear when a participle vs. a simple tense is in use because participles come with auxiliary verbs to create perfect or continuous tenses in grammar; such as the past perfect, past continuous, and present perfect/continuous aspects in grammar.
To form the past perfect tense, use the past participle (e.g., begun) with the auxiliary had. To form the present perfect tense, pair the past participle with have/has (has in the third-person present singular). These aspects of time describe events as continuous or ongoing for a certain period/slice of time up until another point.
Examples of begin, began & begun
| Future |
| I will begin my presentation with an overview of the company’s history. |
| Present |
| They always begin their day with a cup of coffee. I begin my night class on Wednesday. |
| Past simple |
| The concert began with a fanfare from the brass section. She began her career as a journalist at a local newspaper. I first began to learn how to play guitar when I was 10 years old. He began to feel better after taking the medication for a few days. |
| Past + present perfect |
| She had begun studying Spanish so she could communicate better with her coworkers. By the time I arrived, the storm had already begun. The new CEO had begun to implement changes to the company’s strategy. We have only just begun to explore the possibilities of this new technology. |
Worksheet: Begin, began, begun
| Questions | Answer options: |
|---|---|
| 1. True or false: “Begin” is a regular verb. | a. true b. false |
| 2. True or false: “Begin” looks the same in the past tense and as a past participle. | a. true b. false |
| 3. True or false: “Begun” is the simple past tense of ‘begin’. | a. true b. false |
| 4. Which tense is this sentence: I’m beginning to understand what you’re saying. | a. past b. present continuous c. past perfect |
| 5. The sentence is in which tense: I’ve begun to learn about this. | a. present perfect b. present continuous c. past continuous |
| 6. Select the tense the sentence is in: We began earlier. | a. present perfect b. present c. simple past |
Answers
- b
- b
- b
- b
- a
- c
Origin of the word/verb begin
From etymology online on begin (v.):
Old English beginnan “to attempt, undertake,” a rare word beside the more usual form onginnan from be- + West Germanic *ginnan, which is of obscure etymology and found only in compounds, perhaps “to open, open up” with sense evolution from “open” to “begin.”
Synonyms of begin
These words have similar meanings to “begin” and can be used interchangeably depending on the context:
- commence
- start
- initiate
- launch
- embark
- undertake
- kick off
- open
- inaugurate
- trigger
- activate
- set in motion
- provoke
- fire up
- get underway
- set out
- start off
- enter upon
Phrases/idioms with begin or began
| phrase | meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| begin with a bang | To start something in an exciting, impressive, or successful way. | The concert began with a bang when the lead singer burst onto the stage. |
| begin at the beginning | To start a story or explanation from the very beginning. | If you want to understand the situation, I’ll begin at the beginning. |
| begin again | To start over or restart something from the beginning. | After failing the exam, she began again and studied harder for the next one. |
| begin to see the light | To achieve success, you must begin with the end in mind and set clear goals. | After weeks of struggling with the same problem, he finally began to see the light. |
| begin with the end in mind | Start understanding or becoming aware of something after confusion or misunderstanding. | To start a task or project from the beginning without any previous work or progress; e.g., “the team had to begin from scratch when their computer system crashed, and they lost all of their data.” |
| begin from scratch | To start a task or project from the beginning without any previous work or progress. | The team had to begin from scratch when their computer system crashed, causing them to lose all of their data. |
Other commonly confused verb tenses
- What’s the past tense of spread?
- What’s the past tense of lead?
- What’s the past tense of choose?
- What’s the past tense of fly?
- What’s the past tense of lay?
- What’s the past tense of drive?
- What’s the past tense of draw?
Sources
- Wikipedia. 2023. “Indo-European ablaut.” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified January 10, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_ablaut.
- Harper Douglas, “Etymology of begin,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed March 11, 2023, https://www.etymonline.com/word/begin.
