Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

Question

Hi,There are lists of verbs that take à or de before an infinitive and commencer is on both lists. Can you explain when to use which construction? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

Hi John,
There is a slight difference in usage between the two but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Commencer à is more used than commencer de.
You might be interested in reading my answer to Shrey on the matter in the following question which explains the difference -
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/queries-pertaining-to-grammatical-concepts
Hope this helps!

Answer

It is commencer à, with commencer de being reserved for literary use.

Answer

Excellent question. I am a French (native) and Romanian (native) speaker so I can answer your questions.

Commencer à faire = To start to do

Commencer de faire = To start doing

That being said, in spoken french I have heard most natives use Commencer à. However, in literary works or formal writings, I tend to use Commencer de being used much more often.

I hope this answer suffices.