recommencer

English

Etymology

recommence +‎ -er

Noun

recommencer (plural recommencers)

1. One who recommences.
   • 1803, The Annual Review and History of Literature, volume 1, page 257:

     Sir Frederic Morton Eden has defended the peace too well for the recommencers of hostile practices.

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ commencer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

recommencer

1. to restart, start over, start again
   • 2014, Indila, Dernière danse:

     Je veux m’enfuir, que tout recommence.

     I want to run away, that everything starts again.

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of recommencer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	recommencer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	recommençant /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		recommencé /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	recommence /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommences /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommence /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommençons /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/	recommencez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	recommencent /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/
	imperfect	recommençais /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	recommençais /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	recommençait /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/	recommencions /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	recommenciez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/	recommençaient /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	recommençai /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	recommenças /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	recommença /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	recommençâmes /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sam/	recommençâtes /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sat/	recommencèrent /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	recommencerai /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/	recommenceras /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/	recommencera /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁa/	recommencerons /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	recommencerez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁe/	recommenceront /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	recommencerais /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	recommencerais /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	recommencerait /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/	recommencerions /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	recommenceriez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	recommenceraient /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	recommence /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommences /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommence /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	recommencions /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	recommenciez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sje/	recommencent /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	recommençasse /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/	recommençasses /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/	recommençât /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sa/	recommençassions /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	recommençassiez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sa.sje/	recommençassent /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	recommence /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃s/	—	recommençons /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃/	recommencez /ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “recommencer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.