Portuguese

Alternative forms

• commeçar (obsolete)

Verb

começar ‎(first-person singular present indicative começo, past participle começado)

1. (intransitive) to start; to begin; to commence

   Fique quieto, o filme já vai começar!‎

   Keep quiet, the movie is going to start soon!

2. (transitive) to begin; to start to do

   Vou começar a lição de inglês falando sobre verbos irregulares.‎

   I will start the English lesson talking about irregular verbs.

3. (transitive) to start; to initiate (to cause something to begin)

   Aperte play para começar o vídeo.‎

   Press play to start the video.

   O acontecimento começou um debate sobre o crime.‎

   The occurrence started a debate about crime.

4. (auxiliary with a or por (less common) and a verb in the impersonal infinitive) to begin [to]

   Um pirralho começou a gritar.‎

   A brat began to scream / began screaming.

5. (intransitive) to begin (to have a first experience)

   Não sei cozinhar ainda, mas comecei com alguns pratos simples.‎

   I don't know how to cook yet, but I started with some simple foods.

6. first-person singular (eu) personal infinitive of começar
7. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) personal infinitive of começar
8. first-person singular (eu) future subjunctive of começar
9. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) future subjunctive of começar

Conjugation

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:começar.

Synonyms

• (to begin, intransitive): iniciar, principiar
• (to begin, transitive): iniciar, principiar
• (to initiate): iniciar, inicializar
• (to begin, auxiliary): principiar
• (to have a first experience): principiar

Antonyms

• (to begin, intransitive): acabar, terminar
• (to begin, transitive): acabar, terminar
• (to initiate): acabar com, terminar, finalizar, fechar
• (to begin, auxiliary): terminar de, parar de
• (to have a first experience): terminar

Related terms

• começo
• começador
• começante