cominciaste

Cominciaste is the second-person plural form of the Italian verb cominciare in the passato remoto, the simple past tense used primarily in written Italian and literary contexts to describe actions completed in the distant past. It corresponds to “you began” in English.

Conjugation of cominciare in passato remoto follows a regular pattern for -are verbs. The full paradigm in the passato remoto is: io cominciai, tu cominciasti, lui/lei cominciò, noi cominciammo, voi cominciaste, loro cominciarono. Thus, cominciaste is the standard form used for the second person plural.

Usage of cominciaste is characteristic of formal or narrative Italian. It appears in historical, epic, or literary prose to convey events set in the distant past. In contemporary spoken Italian, the passato remoto is rare outside of literature and certain regional or formal registers; speakers more commonly use the passato prossimo, as in voi avete cominciato, or other periphrastic forms like avete iniziato.

In analysis and reference, cominciaste serves as an example of how Italian marks tense and person in literary past narration. Its use helps signal sequence and distance from the present within a story, distinguishing it from conversational past forms.