Word Confusion: Begin vs Began vs Begun

Posted August 26, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
23 Oct 2022

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The word begin is an irregular verb, essentially meaning to start that doesn’t follow the rules when changing tenses.

Begin is the simple present tense describing the action happening right now. It uses I begin, you begin, we begin, and they begin.

It can also create a future tense when combined with will, as in I / you / we / they will begin.

Began is the simple past tense — it mostly describes an action that occurred in the past that have come to an end OR, less often, an action that began in the past and is ongoing, using I began, you began, we began, and they began.

Begun is different from begin or began in that, as a past participle, it requires a helping verb — has, had, or have — to form one of the perfect tenses.

Perfect Present Tense: I have begun, you have begun, he/she/it has begun, we have begun, and they have begun — allows us to talk about something which began in the past but continues into the present.

Past Perfect: I had begun, you had begun, he/she/it had begun, we had begun, and they had begun — refers to something that began in relation to another past action or a specified point in the past.

Future Perfect: I will have begun, you will have begun, he/she/it will have begun, we will have begun, and they will have begun — refers to something that will have started by a certain point in the future.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Begin	Began	Begun
Begin US Route 99 by Chuck Coker is under the CC BY-ND 2.0 license. via Flickr.	And the Trouble Began with Harsh Toilet Tissue by Colleen A. Bryant and courtesy of the Ladies Home Journal, February 1931, page 145, which is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.	The Harvest Has Begun, Bintree, Norfolk, Great Britain, by Evelyn Simak is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Geograph.org.uk.
Part of Grammar:
Verb, intransitive & transitive
Simple present; Simple future	Past tense of begin, beganst [Archaic]	Past participle of begin Requires a helping verb (has, have, had, has been, have been, had been)
Third person present verb: begins Past tense: began Past participle: begun Present participle: beginning
Verb, intransitive: [begin to do/doing something] Start Perform or undergo the first part of (an action or activity) Come into being or have its starting point at a certain time or place [Of a person] Hold a specific position or role before holding any other [Of a thing] Originate [begin with] Have as a first element [begin on, begin upon] Set to work at [Of an article; begin at] Cost at least (a specified amount) [With negative and infinitive; informal] Not have any chance or likelihood of doing a specified thing Verb, transitive: [begin to do/doing something] Start Perform or undergo the first part of (an action or activity) [With direct speech] Start speaking by saying
Examples:
Verb, intransitive: She should begin by rewriting the syllabus. Theorists begin to address these complex questions. She will begin a double life. The ground campaign will begin next week. The story begins with the death of her senile father. The tour begins at the active Poas Volcano. Oh, all right. He can begin as a drummer. She will begin with a marine inlet. List eighty words beginning with a vowel. Picasso can begin on that great canvas. Rooms begin at $139. It was a circuitry that Karen could not begin to comprehend. Verb, transitive: It will begin to snow soon. She must begin to go to the hotel soon.	Verb, intransitive: She began by rewriting the syllabus. Theorists began to address these complex questions. She began a double life. The ground campaign began yesterday. The story began with the death of her senile father. The tour began half an hour ago at the active Poas Volcano. He began as a drummer. Watts Lake began as a marine inlet. She wrote a list of words that began with a vowel. Picasso began on a great canvas. Rooms began at $139. It was a complicated circuitry that Karen began to work on. Verb, transitive: It began to snow. “I’ve got to go to the hotel,” she began.	Verb, intransitive: She had begun by rewriting the syllabus. Theorists have just begun to address these complex questions. She had begun with a double life. The ground campaign had begun. The story had begun with the death of her senile father. The tour had begun at the active Poas Volcano. He had begun as a drummer. Watts Lake had begun as a marine inlet. She had begun a list of words that began with a vowel. Picasso had begun work on a great canvas. Back in 2003, rooms had begun at $139. It was a type of circuitry that Karen could not have begun to comprehend. Verb, transitive: It had begun to snow during the night. “I’ve got to go to the hotel,” she had begun to say.
Derivatives:
Adjective: beginning Noun: beginner, beginning
History of the Word:
Old English beginnan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch and the German beginnen.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Begin vs Began vs Begun

Apple Dictionary.com

Boyles, David and Linsey Betts. “When to Use Begin, Began or Begun.” Study.com. 30 July 2020. Web 13 Aug 2021. <https://study.com/academy/lesson/when-to-use-begin-began-or-begun.html>.

Davis, Ben. “Is It Has Begun or Has Began?” Mvorganizing.org. 31 May 2021. Web. 15 Aug 2021. <https://www.mvorganizing.org/is-it-has-begun-or-has-began/>.

“Word Choice: Began vs. Begun.” 5 June 2016. Web. 13 Aug 2021. <https://getproofed.com/writing-tips/word-choice-began-vs-begun/>.

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