What is the difference between j'ai commencé and je commençais?

Question:I'm in a french class and want to better understand...

Answers:
J'ai commencé is the passé composé of commencer meaning it's an action that took place in a precise moment in the past, like I started. Je commençais is the imparfait of commencer meaning an action that took place in the past but along a time line, like I used to start.

This is how you conjugate them:

Passé composé

J'ai commencé
Tu as commencé
Il a commencé
Nous avons commencé
Vous avez commencé
Ils ont commencé

As you can see, only the auxiliary verb (avoir - to have) changes, you have to conjugate it in its present form. Some other verbs are conjugated with the verb être - to be, but that's not the case here. All the verbs that end in -er (such as commencer) end in -é in the passé composé.

Now, this is how you conjugate commencer in the imparfait:

Je commençais
Tu commençais
Il commençait
Nous commencions
Vous commenciez
Ils commençaient

As you can see, give or take, you take off the ending - er and always add - ais, -ais, ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Hope that was of some help. :)

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