commencer — French to English

How French commencer is translated into English in open, checked parallel texts: 6 translations with example sentences.

The Elamur Dictionary has no French section yet; the English translations below link to their meanings where it has them.

Sentence pairs counted, by form: commencait (1), commence (19 070), commencent (6 391), commencer (31 780), commences (67), commencez (121), commencé (46 451), commencée (698), commencées (208), commencés (320). By style: everyday 1 840 · literary 38 · biblical 28 · parliamentary 12 425 · legal and administrative 5 562 · UN documents 85 214.

start

Used about 29 411 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 1 056 · literary ≈ 1 · biblical ≈ 1 · parliamentary ≈ 4 830 · legal and administrative ≈ 2 674 · UN documents ≈ 20 850). Forms: start, started, starting. Meaning: start in the Elamur Dictionary.

• On commence à manger.

  We are starting to eat.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Marieexchange and cliff900 · checked, community translation · #5273824 #5273873

• --Avant d'en commencer une seconde, si nous terminions la première?

  “Before we start on a second fishing excursion, suppose we complete the first?”

  Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · maupassant pierre jean, row 2235

• C’est un avis que je donne là-dessus, car cela vous convient, à vous qui non seulement avez commencé à agir, mais qui en avez eu la volonté dès l’année dernière.

  I give advice in this: it is expedient for you who were the first to start a year ago, not only to do, but also to be willing.

  World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910 · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · 2CO 8:10

• Elle a commencé avant la crise financière.

  It started before the financial crisis.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1192159

• Commencez avec un bâtiment à l’arrêt.

  Start with a non-moving craft.

  DGT-TM v2021 · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 5130366

begin

Used about 14 019 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 376 · literary ≈ 10 · biblical ≈ 10 · parliamentary ≈ 2 503 · legal and administrative ≈ 468 · UN documents ≈ 10 652). Forms: begin, beginning. Meaning: begin in the Elamur Dictionary.

• Quand cela commence-t-il ?

  When does it begin?

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Aiji and CK · checked, community translation · #42781 #135957

• --À commencer par mon père.

  “Beginning with my father!”

  Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 22089

• Commencer une querelle, c’est ouvrir une digue; Avant que la dispute s’anime, retire-toi.

  The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.

  World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910 · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · PRO 17:14

• Je commence par l'emploi.

  Let me begin with employment.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1922421

• Pour commencer, une seule mesure est faite pour chaque état de charge.

  To begin with, a single measurement shall be made in each loading condition.

  DGT-TM v2021 · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 5426180

began

Used about 12 761 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 91 · literary ≈ 3 · biblical ≈ 6 · parliamentary ≈ 1 185 · legal and administrative ≈ 371 · UN documents ≈ 11 105).

• Le bébé a commencé à ramper.

  The baby began to crawl.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by lbdx and CK · checked, community translation · #45867 #10546895

• --Voilà longtemps que je te sais jaloux de moi, depuis le jour où tu as commencé à dire «la veuve» parce que tu as compris que cela me faisait mal.

  “I have known for a long time that you were jealous of me, ever since the day when you first began to talk of ‘the widow’ because you knew it annoyed me.”

  Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · maupassant pierre jean, row 1734

• en disant: Cet homme a commencé à bâtir, et il n’a pu achever?

  saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

  World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910 · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · LUK 14:30

• Je voudrais terminer par où j'ai commencé.

  My last point is to end where I began.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 37931

• La première période a commencé à la date du premier Conseil d'association et s'est terminée le 31 décembre 2006.

  The first period began on the date of the first Association Council meeting and ended on 31 December 2006.

  DGT-TM v2021 · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 44825

begun

Used about 10 190 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 45 · literary ≈ 10 · biblical ≈ 7 · parliamentary ≈ 1 449 · legal and administrative ≈ 293 · UN documents ≈ 8 385).

• J'ai déjà commencé.

  I've already begun.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by nbrr and CK · checked, community translation · #8399074 #5149951

• L'information avait commencé.

  The investigation had begun.

  Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 18862

• Les Juifs s’engagèrent à faire ce qu’ils avaient déjà commencé et ce que Mardochée leur écrivit.

  The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them,

  World English Bible and Louis Segond 1910 · World English Bible; Louis Segond 1910; public domain, eBible.org · checked, professional translation · EST 9:23

• Les premières discussions sur le projet de déclaration viennent de commencer.

  The first discussions on the draft statement have just begun.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1774185

• Aucune modification ne doit être apportée une fois que l’essai a commencé.

  No alteration shall be made once the test procedure has begun.

  DGT-TM v2021 · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 5597617

before

Used about 3 585 times in the texts (everyday ≈ 6 · literary ≈ 1 · parliamentary ≈ 132 · legal and administrative ≈ 273 · UN documents ≈ 3 173). Meaning: before in the Elamur Dictionary.

• Nous devons décharger ce camion avant qu'il commence à pleuvoir.

  We need to get this truck unloaded before it starts raining.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by olivier and CK · checked, community translation · #5625127 #5627702

• Avant les importants travaux commencés en 1833, la voirie souterraine de Paris était sujette à des effondrements subits.

  Before the important works, undertaken in 1833, the subterranean drain of Paris was subject to these sudden slides.

  Project Gutenberg books (Verne, Hugo, Maupassant and their translators) · Project Gutenberg, public domain · checked, professional translation · hugo les miserables, row 27904

• Avant même que commence sa présidence européenne, son château de cartes s'écroule.

  Even before his European presidency begins, his house of cards is collapsing.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 1093148

• Oui, avant de commencer à percevoir la première pension de vieillesse

  Yes, before receiving the first old-age pension

  DGT-TM v2021 · Source: European Commission, DGT-TM (Steinberger et al. 2012), re-used under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; the Commission keeps ownership of the data · checked, professional translation · segment 2354416

• However, the tracking commences only when a detainee is produced before court, not at the point of arrest

  However, the tracking commences only when a detainee is produced before court, not at the point of arrest

  United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 20233383

work

Used about 2 581 times in the texts (parliamentary ≈ 88 · UN documents ≈ 2 493). Meaning: work in the Elamur Dictionary.

• Mais nous attendons avec impatience de pouvoir commencer le travail sur la directive correspondante.

  However, we look forward to being able to commence work on this directive as well.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 181702

• Les travaux sur les méthodes de spécification des prescriptions ont commencé à la réunion de Séoul.

  Work commenced at the Seoul Forum meeting on the RSM.

  United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 12730591

• Dès demain, je rencontrerai mes collègues commissaires pour m' assurer que les travaux commencent immédiatement et que les objectifs fixés soient atteints.

  Tomorrow, I am going to meet my fellow Commissioners to ensure that work starts immediately and that the various different objectives set are achieved.

  Europarl v8 · Source: European Parliament proceedings, Europarl v8 (Koehn 2005) via OPUS (Tiedemann 2012) · checked, professional translation · segment 35757

• Une bonne partie de ce travail avait commencé avant même que le coroner ne formule ses conclusions.

  Much of this work had already commenced prior to the coroner ' s findings.

  United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 27647967

• Le Comité des sanctions concernant la Côte d ' Ivoire devrait commencer ses travaux début décembre.

  The Côte d ' Ivoire Sanctions Committee is expected to commence its work in early December.

  United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 · Source: United Nations, United Nations Parallel Corpus v1.0 (Ziemski, Junczys-Dowmunt and Pouliquen 2016) · checked, professional translation · segment 12554969

More sentences

Sentence pairs with the word where no single translation was found: it may be translated by a phrase, or left out.

• Je pense que nous devrions commencer à rentrer.

  I think we should be getting back.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by sacredceltic and CK · checked, community translation · #2408456 #2412135

• Ils devraient commencer par balayer devant leur porte avant de critiquer leurs voisins.

  Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by Myrano_ and CK · checked, community translation · #1577 #14041890

• Pour commencer, vous devez lire ce livre.

  First of all, you have to read this book.

  Tatoeba · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR · sentences by phil77 and CM · checked, community translation · #32815 #900667

Grammar

Notes on grammar and translation on Mova: French grammar · English grammar · translating between English and French · translating from French · translating into English.

About these examples

Translations are found by how often the two words stand in the same sentence pairs, and the highlighted words are matched automatically: both are approximate. Counts are estimated from a sample of each source. Every example names its source and licence. Submit a better translation or example.

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