Cominciato

Cominciato is the past participle of the Italian verb cominciare, which means to begin or to start. It is used to express that an action or event has begun and can also function as an adjective describing something that has already begun.

Morphology and usage. In compound tenses, the auxiliary verb used with cominciare determines agreement. When used in a transitive sense (to begin something) with avere, the participle does not typically agree with a following direct object: Ho cominciato un nuovo progetto. In intransitive use (to begin on its own), the auxiliary is essere, and the participle agrees with the subject: La partita è cominciata; I lavori sono cominciati. Cominciato can also appear as an attributive adjective: una serie cominciata anni fa, una questione cominciata ieri.

Examples. La cerimonia è cominciata alle otto. Ho cominciato a studiare alle sette. I lavori sono cominciati questa settimana. Una nuova era è cominciata nel paese.

Etymology and related forms. Cominciato derives from cominciare, itself linked to Latin incipere, meaning to begin. In Italian, it is closely related to iniziare; the two verbs are often synonymous and share a similar semantic field, though loro etimologia differisce historically. Dialectal or historical variants include forms linked to cominciare’s older roots and to analogous French and Latin derivatives.

See also. cominciare, iniziare, incipire.