comience

Comience is a Spanish verb form derived from comenzar, meaning to begin. It is the third-person singular present subjunctive form (él/ella/usted) and, when used as an imperative, the formal command for you singular (usted). In both uses it expresses an action that is not asserted as a fact but is viewed as potential, desired, or required in a polite or hypothetical context.

Conjugation notes: The present subjunctive forms are yo comience, tú comiences, él/ella/usted comience, nosotros comencemos, vosotros comencéis, ellos comiencen. The spelling comience reflects the -zar change that occurs before the ending that begins with e, a pattern seen in other -zar verbs such as empezar → empiece. The form comience is specifically the usted/él/ella form in this tense, and comencéis and comiencen appear for vosotros and ellos, respectively.

Usage examples: "Quiero que comience a estudiar." (I want him/her to begin studying.) "Por favor, comience cuando esté listo." (Please begin when you are ready.) "Que comience la reunión." (Let the meeting begin.) In these cases, comience is used in subordinate clauses introduced by que, or as a polite imperative with usted.

Etymology and relations: The verb comenzar comes from Latin incipere and was reinforced in Spanish by Old Spanish comencar, with later orthographic and phonetic changes that produced the modern forms. Comience is cognate with related forms in other Romance languages and with the English verb commence, reflecting a shared Latin root.