Empezado

The Spanish past participle of the verb 'empezar,' meaning 'to begin' or 'to start.' It indicates an action that has been initiated in the past. It's used in compound tenses (like the perfect tenses) with the auxiliary verb 'haber' to describe completed actions. The tense can also reflect the beginning of a past event or process. Understanding 'empezado' is key to forming and interpreting complex Spanish verb conjugations.

Empezado meaning with examples

• El proyecto ha empezado a dar frutos. (The project has started to bear fruit.) We use it in the perfect tense to convey the idea that the process began, and its current state or consequences remain relevant, highlighting an ongoing impact.
• La película había empezado cuando llegamos al cine. (The movie had started when we arrived at the cinema.) This sentence utilizes the pluperfect tense to show that the movie began before another past action (our arrival) began and was also finished at our arrival.
• Ellos han empezado a practicar español con mucha dedicación. (They have begun to practice Spanish with great dedication.) This expresses the current impact of the beginning of the action, highlighting that their learning has begun and it's ongoing now.
• ¿Has empezado ya a leer el libro que te presté? (Have you started reading the book I lent you yet?) Here 'has empezado' forms the present perfect tense, enquiring if the activity has started now.
• La construcción del edificio ya había empezado en ese momento. (The construction of the building had already begun at that time.) The pluperfect indicates the construction had a previous beginning before a second past event.