commençaient vs commençait, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“commençaient” and “commençait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,394
“commençaient” frequency rank: #8,520
“commençait” frequency rank: 28914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	commençaient	commençait
Definition	Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de commencer.	Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de commencer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set commençaient and commençait apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch

commençaient

10 ch

commençait

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. commençaient and commençait are pronounced identically (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commençaient is recorded at frequency rank #20,394, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\. commençait is at rank #8,520, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 28914, this pair ranks #319,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of commençaient vs commençait

Shared letters: aceimnotç. Private to "commençaient": -. Private to "commençait": -.

"commençaient" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVVCC · "commençait" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

commençaient#20,394

commençait#8,520

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "commençaient" and "commençait" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "commençaient" or "commençait"?

"commençait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,520 in our French list, against #20,394 for "commençaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering commençaient vs commençait

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “commençaient” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable