“Empezar” Conjugation in Spanish: Where Do We Start?

It is often that when faced with a new challenge or project, we ask ourselves, “Where do I start?” Well, we tend to start at the beginning, of course! This is why, in this article, we’ll cover the verb empezar (to start/begin) to help you get things going.

As per usual, we’ll go over the empezar conjugation starting from the basics and including some pro tips and extra info. We will include plenty of examples, as well as some interesting quotes that include this verb. Are you ready to get started? Ready, set, go!

What kind of verb is empezar?

Empezar is an irregular verb, but we promise it doesn’t bite. There are only four tenses in the empezar conjugation that have irregular forms (present and perfect preterite in the indicative, present in the subjunctive mood, and the only imperative tense).

The two changes the verb undergoes are changing its “p” for a “pi” (for example, in “empiezo”, as we’ll see below) and its “z” for a “c” (for example, in “empecé”, as we’ll also see below), which is not that rare.

Verbals of empezar: infinitive, gerund and participle

Now that you have an idea of what kind of verb empezar is and what challenges it might present, we’ll get into its conjugation. We’ll start by looking at its verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. Verbals actually function as nouns, adjectives and adverbs and not as actual verbs, which might sound tricky. But not to worry! After we look at some examples, you’ll see that you’re up to an easy start with the empezar conjugation.

Infinitive

Empezar (to start/begin)

• Vamos a empezar la clase. (We’re going to start the class.)

Gerund

Empezando (starting/beginning)

• Estaba empezando un partido cuando empezó a llover. (A match was starting when the rain began to fall.)

Participle

Empezado (started/began)

• Si hubiese empezado en hora, no llegaríamos tan tarde a casa. (Had it started on time, we would not be arriving at home so late.)

Empezar conjugation for all levels

Let’s start at the beginning: empezar conjugation for beginners

As you might know from previous articles, there are 10 tenses in the indicative mood in the Spanish language. We’ll get you started with the most common and simplest forms for the empezar conjugation: presente (present), pretérito imperfecto (imperfect preterite, a form of the past tense), pretérito perfecto (perfect preterite, another form of the past tense) and futuro (future).

Subject	Present	Imperfect Preterite	Perfect Preterite	Future
Yo (I)	empiezo	empezaba	empecé	empezaré
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	empiezas empezás	empezabas	empezaste	empezarás
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	empieza	empezaba	empezó	empezará
Nosotros (We)	empezamos	empezábamos	empezamos	empezaremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	empezáis empiezan	empezabais empezaban	empezasteis empezaron	empezaréis empezarán
Ellos (Them)	empiezan	empezaban	empezaron	empezarás

Empezar conjugation examples for beginners

• Present: Las clases empiezan en septiembre. (School starts in September.)
• Imperfect preterite: ¡Mis abuelos empezaban su jornada laboral a las 5 de la mañana! (My grandparents started work at 5 in the morning!)
• Perfect preterite: Empezó el partido. (The match started.)
• Future: Empezarán a sentirse mejor pronto. (You’ll start feeling better soon.)

Time to move forward: empezar conjugation for intermediate students

Nicely done! You are progressing nicely on your new project. Now it’s time to dig deeper and focus on the compound tenses of the empezar conjugation in the indicative mood.

When it comes to compound tenses in Spanish, mastering the haber conjugation is essential. The only form of empezar that is used here is the participle “empezado”. To form compound tenses in Spanish you need to use the correct form of the verb haber + the past participle of the verb in question (i.e., empezado), which is the one that carries the meaning.

On the table below, you’ll find the pretérito perfecto (preterite perfect), pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) and futuro compuesto (future perfect) tenses for empezar, but we also recommend you take a look at our article on the haber conjugation.

Subject	Preterite Perfect	Pluperfect	Future Perfect
Yo (I)	he empezado	había empezado	habré empezado
Tu/Vos (You)	has empezado	habías empezado	habrás empezado
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	ha empezado	había empezado	habrá empezado
Nosotros (We)	hemos empezado	habíamos empezado	habremos empezado
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	habéis empezado han empezado	habíais empezado habían empezado	habréis empezado habrán empezado
Ellos (Them)	han empezado	habían empezado	habrán empezado

Empezar conjugation examples for intermediate level

• Preterite perfect: Hemos empezado la construcción. (We’ve started the construction work.)
• Pluperfect: Había empezado a correr 3 km por día. (He/She had started running 2 miles every day.)
• Future perfect: ¿Habrá empezado ya la obra?. (Will the play have started by now?)

We’re almost at the finish line: empezar conjugation for advanced learners

Now, let’s finish this project with the subjunctive mood. This Spanish mood is quite abstract; it is used to express doubts, emotions, desires, and the unknown. Below, we’ll look at its presente (present), imperfecto (imperfect) and futuro (future) tenses for the empezar conjugation.

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Future
Yo (I)	empiece	empezara o empezase	empezare
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	empieces	empezaras o empezases	empezares
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	empiece	empezara o empezase	empezare
Nosotros (We)	empecemos	empezáramos o empezásemos	empezaremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	empecéis empiecen	empezarais o empezaseis empezaran o empezasen	empezareis empezaren
Ellos (Them)	empiecen	empezaran o empezasen	empezaren

Empezar conjugation examples for advanced learners

• Present: ¡Qué empiece la función! (Let the show begin!)
• Imperfect: ¿Y si empezamos una maratón anual? (What if we started a yearly marathon?.)

The subjunctive future is rarely used in speech nowadays, and you are more likely to find it in literature or legal contexts. We haven’t added a conjugation example for the empezar subjunctive future here, as you are very unlikely to come across it. However, we believe it is good for you to know it exists and what it looks like.

Extra empezar conjugation: conditional tenses and imperative

If you still want to add some spice to your project, here you’ll find some extra tenses of the empezar conjugation. We have the condicional simple (simple conditional) and the condicional compuesto (conditional perfect), as well as the imperative, in the table below.

Subject	Simple Conditional	Conditional Perfect	Imperative
Yo (I)	empezaría	habría empezado
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	empezarías	habrías empezado	¡empieza! ¡empezá!
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	empezaría	habría empezado	¡empiece!
Nosotros (We)	empezaríamos	habríamos empezado	¡empecemos!
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	empezaríais empezarían	habríais empezado habrían empezado	¡empezad! ¡empiecen!
Ellos (Them)	empezarían	habrían empezado	¡empiecen!

Empezar conjugation examples in the conditional tenses

• Simple conditional: ¿Empezaría un negocio propio si se queda sin trabajo? (Would you start your own business if you became unemployed?)
• Conditional perfect: Si hubiese sabido que era urgente, no habría empezado tan tarde. (Had I known it was urgent, I wouldn’t have started so late.)
• Imperative: ¡Empiecen con la tarea! (Start working on your homework!)

If you want more info on conditional tenses, you can take a look at this article.

Verbs with similar meaning: comenzar and iniciar

There are a couple more verbs in Spanish that have a similar meaning to empezar that we thought you should know about. Below, we’ll give you a short description and explain the main differences.

Comenzar

This verb has the same meanings as empezar (i.e., to start/begin) and is used in similar contexts. Both verbs can also function as transitive or intransitive verbs—meaning they can work with or without a direct object.

The main difference between the two is that comenzar is more formal and more often found in literature, while empezar is more colloquial, and you are bound to hear it more in casual conversation. However, depending on the country, they might be completely interchangeable in all contexts.

Iniciar

Iniciar is a bit different from both empezar and comenzar, as it mainly works as a transitive verb (taking a direct object) and becomes intransitive only when accompanied by a reflexive pronoun. You can find more info about reflexive verbs in this article.

Famous quotes with empezar

As there are not many common phrases or idioms with the verb empezar, we thought it would be fun to leave you with some famous quotes to help you impress your Spanish-speaking friends.

But first, did you know that Spanish quotation marks are different from English ones? In English, they are called guillemets—which is actually a French word—and they look like this: «».

“Nada está perdido si se tiene el valor de proclamar que todo está perdido y hay que empezar de nuevo.”

This is a quote from Argentinean author Julio Cortazar, and it translates into “Nothing is lost if one has the courage to proclaim that all is lost and we must begin anew,” which we find quite inspiring. Do you agree?

If you like Cortazar’s way of thinking, you might enjoy reading some of his short stories here.

“No esperes a que las condiciones sean perfectas para empezar, el empezar hace las condiciones perfectas.”

The original quote from Allan Cohen is “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect” and it is quite the life lesson.

“Habría que empezar a vivir. Sin vida no hay historia y mucho menos literatura.”

This quote from Mexican writer and researcher Celia del Palacio translates into “You have to start living. Without life there is no history and least of all literature.”

We hope this guide has helped you with the empezar conjugation and whatever questions you might’ve had about this verb. If you are looking for more information about Spanish conjugations in general, you can dive into our overview of Spanish tenses. Also, if you want tips on how to learn Spanish on your own, you can check out our article on this topic.