Do I say "began" or "begun"

Both “began” and “begun” are correct, but they are used in different grammatical situations.

Key Difference

Word	Verb Form	Usage
Began	V2 (Past)	Used in simple past tense
Begun	V3 (Past Participle)	Used with helping verbs (has/have/had)

When to use “began”

Use “began” when the action happened in the past and no helping verb is used

Examples:

• She began her work yesterday.
• The movie began at 6 PM.

When to use “begun”

Use “begun” with helping verbs like has, have, had

Examples:

• She has begun her work.
• They had begun the project earlier.

Common Mistake:

She has began her work.
She has begun her work.

Simple Trick:

• No helping verb → use began
• With has/have/had → use begun

Verb Forms:

• V1 → begin
• V2 → began
• V3 → begun