recommencer
start again
Faire une chose une nouvelle fois après l’avoir déjà faite une première fois.
Definition & meaning
Recommencer means to start again or to do something again. It can describe restarting an activity after a pause, repeating an action, or starting over from the beginning.
- Il recommence à travailler. — He starts working again.
- Recommence ton exercice. — Do your exercise again.
- La pluie recommence. — The rain is starting again.
Grammar & Word origin
Recommencer is a regular -er verb. It can be used with an object, as in recommencer un exercice, or without one, as in la pluie recommence.
It is formed from the prefix re-, meaning “again,” and commencer , meaning “to begin.” The spelling changes to recommençons in the first-person plural present tense to preserve the soft c sound.
Synonyms & antonyms
- reprendre — “to resume”; usually emphasizes continuing after a pause rather than starting over.
- refaire — “to do again”; emphasizes repeating the action, often to improve or correct it.
- cesser — “to stop”; an opposite when recommencer means resuming an activity.
- terminer — “to finish”; contrasts with starting an activity again.
Common phrases & collocations
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Examples
Nous allons recommencer dès maintenant.verb
We are going to start again right now.
As-tu dû recommencer ton devoir hier soir ?verb
Did you have to start your homework again last night?
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