Начинать/начать
To communicate the idea of starting a process, Russian can either use specific verbal prefixes or one of several specific verbs. The most basic verb is начинать/начать.
| to start, begin | ||
| Imperfective | Perfective | |
| Infinitive | начинать | начать |
| Past | начинал начинала начинало начинали |
начал начала начало начали |
| Present | начинаю начинаешь начинает начинаем начинаете начинают |
No such thing as perfective present in Russian. |
| Future |
буду начинать будешь начинать будет начинать будем начинать будете начинать будут начинать |
начну начнёшь начнёт начнём начнёте начнут |
| Imperative | начинай(те) | начните |
The verb can be complemented by either a noun or an infinitive phrase. In either case the person who starts the process is in the nominative case. When working with nouns, the thing that starts is in the accusative case:
| Наш профессор всегда начинает лекцию точно в девять часов. | Our professor always begins class right at nine o'clock. |
| Хирург начнёт операцию в пять минут девятого. | The surgeon shall begin the operation at 8:05. |
| Грузия начала бомбёжку Южной Осетии. (source) | Georgia has begun the bombing of Southern Osetia. |
When using an infinitive phrase after this verb, that infinitive MUST be an imperfective infinitive:
| Боря начал задумываться, не пора ли сделать предложение Зине. | Boris began to wonder whether it was time to propose to Zina. |
| Я начну изучать испанский через месяц. | I'll start studying Spanish in a month. |
| Да я что-то заметил за собой… Как только начинаю много говорить в плей-офф, мы сразу проигрываем. (source) | And I've noticed something about myself… As soon as I start talking a lot during a play-off, we immediately start losing. |
One thing you CANNOT do with this verb is to say something like “The movie starts at 5:00.” For that you need the reflexive form of the verb, which we will discuss tomorrow.
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