Cominciare Conjugation in Italian
cominciare means “to begin” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Italian learners meet — it sits at number 72 in VerbFlow’s frequency list for Italian verbs. It means to begin and to start, and it is completely regular apart from its spelling: the stem-final i drops before e and i, so the io form is comincio and the future is comincerò. It is the twin of iniziare, which means the same thing. This page gives you the complete conjugation of cominciare — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.” — “I begin the work.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: cominciare
- English: to begin
- Verb type: Regular -are verb
- Irregular in: none — regular in every tense
- Gerund: cominciando
- Present participle: cominciante
- Past participle: cominciato
- Auxiliary: avere (all perfect tenses are formed with avere + the past participle)
- Ending: -are verbs; pattern are in the verified tables
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for cominciare, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one. Learn the spelling of the forms first, and listen to a native speaker for the sounds rather than trusting an invented transcription. The forms below are the ones that matter: once you can read cominciare in every tense, you can recognise it in speech even before you can pronounce every form perfectly.
Three things to remember about cominciare
- It is regular: every form follows the ordinary -are pattern, so once you know the stem you can build the whole table. The only work is learning the endings, not memorising exceptions. The -ciare stem drops its final i before e and i, so the io form is comincio and the future is comincerò.
- The perfect tenses use avere: the passato prossimo is formed with avere in the present plus the past participle cominciato. The tables on this page give the participle in the masculine singular form, exactly as it appears in the verified dump; agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence, not on the verb table.
- The participles are cominciante and cominciato: keep both in mind as you read the tables, because the present participle appears as an adjective and the past participle appears in every perfect tense. If you know those two forms and the present tense, you already know the skeleton of the whole conjugation.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for cominciare. Learn the present tense first, then the passato prossimo and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative (presente)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | comincio |
| tu | cominci |
| lui/lei | comincia |
| noi | cominciamo |
| voi | cominciate |
| loro | cominciano |
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.” — “I begin the work”
Passato remoto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | cominciai |
| tu | cominciasti |
| lui/lei | cominciò |
| noi | cominciammo |
| voi | cominciaste |
| loro | cominciarono |
The passato remoto is used for completed actions in the distant past, mostly in written and literary Italian and in the south of Italy. For example: “Io cominciai il lavoro ieri.” — “I began the work”
Imperfect (imperfetto)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | cominciavo |
| tu | cominciavi |
| lui/lei | cominciava |
| noi | cominciavamo |
| voi | cominciavate |
| loro | cominciavano |
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and for background description. For example: “Io cominciavo il lavoro una volta.” — “I used to begin the work”
Future (futuro semplice)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | comincerò |
| tu | comincerai |
| lui/lei | comincerà |
| noi | cominceremo |
| voi | comincerete |
| loro | cominceranno |
The future is used for what will happen, for predictions and for probability. For example: “Io comincerò il lavoro domani.” — “I will begin the work”
Conditional (condizionale)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | comincerei |
| tu | cominceresti |
| lui/lei | comincerebbe |
| noi | cominceremmo |
| voi | comincereste |
| loro | comincerebbero |
The conditional is used for what would happen, for polite requests and for hypothetical situations. For example: “Io comincerei il lavoro un giorno.” — “I would begin the work”
Present perfect (passato prossimo)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | ho cominciato |
| tu | hai cominciato |
| lui/lei | ha cominciato |
| noi | abbiamo cominciato |
| voi | avete cominciato |
| loro | hanno cominciato |
The passato prossimo is used for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken Italian. For example: “Lui ha cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.” — “He has begun the work”
Pluperfect (trapassato prossimo)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avevo cominciato |
| tu | avevi cominciato |
| lui/lei | aveva cominciato |
| noi | avevamo cominciato |
| voi | avevate cominciato |
| loro | avevano cominciato |
The pluperfect is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Io avevo cominciato il lavoro prima della festa.” — “I had begun the work”
Future perfect (futuro anteriore)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avrò cominciato |
| tu | avrai cominciato |
| lui/lei | avrà cominciato |
| noi | avremo cominciato |
| voi | avrete cominciato |
| loro | avranno cominciato |
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Io avrò cominciato il lavoro per domani.” — “I will have begun the work”
Conditional perfect (condizionale passato)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avrei cominciato |
| tu | avresti cominciato |
| lui/lei | avrebbe cominciato |
| noi | avremmo cominciato |
| voi | avreste cominciato |
| loro | avrebbero cominciato |
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Io avrei cominciato il lavoro ieri.” — “I would have begun the work”
Present subjunctive (congiuntivo presente)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | cominci |
| tu | cominci |
| lui/lei | cominci |
| noi | cominciamo |
| voi | cominciate |
| loro | comincino |
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after che. For example: “È importante che io cominci il lavoro.” — “It is important that I begin the work”
Imperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo imperfetto)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | cominciassi |
| tu | cominciassi |
| lui/lei | cominciasse |
| noi | cominciassimo |
| voi | cominciaste |
| loro | cominciassero |
The imperfect subjunctive is used in the past for wishes and hypotheticals after che, and in if-clauses. For example: “Era importante che io cominciassi il lavoro.” — “It was important that I begin the work”
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | comincia |
| lui/lei | cominci |
| noi | cominciamo |
| voi | cominciate |
| loro | comincino |
The affirmative imperative is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Comincia il lavoro!” — “Begin the work!”
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | cominciare |
| lui/lei | cominci |
| noi | cominciamo |
| voi | cominciate |
| loro | comincino |
The negative imperative is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Non cominciare il lavoro.” — “Do not begin the work.”
Gerund
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Gerund | cominciando |
The gerund is used for an action happening at the same time as another action, often with stare for the progressive. For example: “Cominciando il lavoro, imparo molto.” — “While beginning the work, I learn a lot.”
Present participle
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Present participle | cominciante |
The present participle is used as an adjective, describing an ongoing action. For example, the participle cominciante is used to describe something that is happening at the same time as the main action, much like an English -ing adjective.
Past participle
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Past participle | cominciato |
The past participle is used with an auxiliary to form the perfect tenses, and as an adjective. For example: “Io ho cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.” — “I have begun the work.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with cominciare, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Italian and try to produce it from the English.
- “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.” — “I begin the work”
- “Tu cominciasti il lavoro ieri.” — “You began the work”
- “Lui cominciava il lavoro una volta.” — “He used to begin the work”
- “Io comincerò il lavoro domani.” — “I will begin the work”
- “Tu cominceresti il lavoro un giorno.” — “You would begin the work”
- “Lui ha cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.” — “He has begun the work”
- “Io avevo cominciato il lavoro prima della festa.” — “I had begun the work”
- “Tu avrai cominciato il lavoro per domani.” — “You will have begun the work”
- “È importante che io cominci il lavoro.” — “It is important that I begin the work”
- “Comincia il lavoro!” — “Begin the work!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Io cominciare il lavoro.”
✓ Right: “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.”
The infinitive cominciare never takes a subject. After io you need the conjugated present form comincio.
2. Using the wrong person’s form
✗ Wrong: “Io cominci il lavoro.”
✓ Right: “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.”
cominci is the tu form, not the io form. Match the verb to the subject every time: io goes with comincio.
3. Using the present for a finished past action
✗ Wrong: “Io comincio il lavoro ieri.”
✓ Right: “Io ho cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.”
Yesterday points to the past, so the present is wrong here. Use the passato prossimo ho cominciato for a finished action yesterday.
4. Using the wrong auxiliary in the passato prossimo
✗ Wrong: “Io sono cominciato il lavoro.”
✓ Right: “Io ho cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.”
The passato prossimo of cominciare is formed with avere plus the past participle cominciato: the io form is ho cominciato. Check the auxiliary in the table above before you build a perfect tense.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “È importante che io comincio il lavoro.”
✓ Right: “È importante che io cominci il lavoro.”
After è importante che Italian needs the subjunctive, so use cominci here, not the indicative comincio.
6. Using the gerund instead of the past participle in a perfect tense
✗ Wrong: “Io ho cominciando il lavoro.”
✓ Right: “Io ho cominciato il lavoro questa settimana.”
The perfect tenses need the past participle cominciato, not the gerund cominciando. The gerund belongs in progressive constructions, never after an auxiliary in a perfect tense.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on cominciare. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the io form of cominciare in the Present indicative?
- A) cominci
- B) comincio
- C) comincia
- D) cominciamo
What is the lui/lei form of cominciare in the Passato remoto?
- A) cominciai
- B) cominciasti
- C) cominciò
- D) cominciammo
What is the noi form of cominciare in the Imperfect?
- A) cominciavo
- B) cominciavi
- C) cominciava
- D) cominciavamo
What is the tu form of cominciare in the Future?
- A) comincerai
- B) comincerò
- C) comincerà
- D) cominceremo
What is the io form of cominciare in the Conditional?
- A) cominceresti
- B) comincerei
- C) comincerebbe
- D) cominceremmo
What is the lui/lei form of cominciare in the Present perfect (passato prossimo)?
- A) ho cominciato
- B) hai cominciato
- C) ha cominciato
- D) abbiamo cominciato
What is the lui/lei form of cominciare in the Present subjunctive?
- A) cominciamo
- B) cominciate
- C) comincino
- D) cominci
What is the io form of cominciare in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) cominciassi
- B) cominciasse
- C) cominciassimo
- D) cominciaste
What is the gerund of cominciare?
- A) cominciato
- B) cominciando
- C) cominciare
- D) comincio
What does cominciare mean in English?
- A) to be
- B) to have
- C) to begin
- D) to do, to make
Answer key
- B) comincio — the correct form is comincio. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) cominciò — the correct form is cominciò. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) cominciavamo — the correct form is cominciavamo. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- A) comincerai — the correct form is comincerai. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) comincerei — the correct form is comincerei. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) ha cominciato — the correct form is ha cominciato. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) cominci — the correct form is cominci. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- A) cominciassi — the correct form is cominciassi. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) cominciando — the correct form is cominciando. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) to begin — the correct form is to begin. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
Frequently asked questions
What does cominciare mean in English?
cominciare means “to begin”. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is cominciare regular or irregular?
cominciare is regular: it follows the ordinary -are pattern in every tense. The gerund is cominciando and the past participle is cominciato.
What are the gerund and past participle of cominciare?
The gerund is cominciando — use it with stare for the progressive. The past participle is cominciato — use it with avere for the perfect tenses, as in ho cominciato.
Which auxiliary does cominciare take in the passato prossimo?
cominciare takes avere in the passato prossimo: the io form is ho cominciato. All four perfect tenses on this page are built with avere plus the past participle cominciato.
How do I say “I begin” in Italian?
Say “Io comincio il lavoro ogni giorno.” — “I begin the work” The io form of the present is comincio, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- Full conjugation of cominciare — every tense of cominciare in one place.
- Cominciare in the present tense — the full table and usage rules for one tense.
- Cominciare examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Italian present tense guide — the full guide to the present tense in Italian.
- Fare conjugation — another everyday Italian verb.
- Andare conjugation — another everyday Italian verb.
- Italian verbs — the full hub of Italian conjugation pages.
- VerbFlow home — all languages, tools and verb lists.
- Verb Conjugator — practise cominciare with the interactive tool.
- Conjugation Chart Printer — practise cominciare with the interactive tool.
- Tense Finder — practise cominciare with the interactive tool.