began vs begun

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a 2nd grader and I'm looking for a good explanation for the difference between the verb began and begun. Thank you in advance.

[Tdol]

Began is the past tense. It occurs alone.
Begun is the past participle. It occurs after the verb 'have'.

[MikeNewYork]

I'm the parent of a 2nd grader and I'm looking for a good explanation for the difference between the verb began and begun. Thank you in advance.

I can't remember what we learned about verb tenses/aspects by second grade. As TDOL said, "begun" is the past participle of the verb "begin".

We use the past participle with an auxiliary verb to form the present perfect: I have begun/You have begun/He has begun/We have begun/They have begun, or the past perfect: I/you/he/we/they had begun.

[RonBee]

Mike and Tdol are both right. However, with a second grader I would probably not use terms like present participle. I would say something like:

• Began is for the past, for example, yesterday. Example:
  [list:0afdd209fb]I began it yesterday.

[/list:u:0afdd209fb]
Use have begun when talking about something you are doing. You have started it and you are still doing it. Example:

• I have begun doing my homework.

A famous use of have begun:

• "I have not yet begun to fight."
  (John Paul Jones)

Does that help?

:)

[keen4more]

Hi All,

Just wanted to ask which of the two statements is correct.

We have begin researching the...
We have begun researching the...

per me, the latter is correct but would love to hear your opinions with the rules as well

take care...

[Nightmare85]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker**

Wow, this thread is almost six years old.
Nice retrieving

You can't use "have" with "begin".
"Begin" is "Simple Present".

begin-began-begun

Cheers!