Began vs Begun
Published January 17, 2023. Updated January 17, 2023.
Began and Begun are forms of the same word. They are both forms of the verb “to begin.” To begin is an irregular verb, which means the past tense is not made by adding -ed to the end. Rather, the form of the verb changes in some other way. Began is the past tense, while begun is the past participle. We use begun with some form of the helping verb “have” in front of it: has begun, have begun, had begun.
Here are some definitions and examples to help make the use of these words clearer.
Began (verb)
Past tense of the verb “to begin.”
Examples:
Hurry up! The movie began five minutes ago!
The United States began its history as an independent country on July 4, 1776.
In the example sentences above, the word began is the verb – it tells the action in the sentence. And the action of the sentence is in the past. In the first sentence, we know the action was five minutes ago, and in the second sentence, the action was in 1776.
Begun (verb)
Past participle form of the verb “to begin.”
Examples:
It’s December 31, 11:50 p.m. The countdown to the New Year has begun!
By the time our team arrived, the tournament had begun already.
In these example sentences, the word begun is the verb of the sentence. In the first example, the verb phrase is “has begun” which is the present perfect tense. This means the action started before now – before the present. In the second sentence, however, the verb phrase is “had begun.” That is the past perfect tense. That means something happened in the past (our team arrived) and something happened before that (the tournament had begun).
Main Points
- Began is past tense of the verb “to begin.”
- Begun is the past participle form of the verb “to begin.”
- Begun is used with some form of the helping verb “have”: has begun, have begun, or had begun.