empezar vs. comenzar—both have the same meaning?
empezar vs. comenzar—both have the same meaning?
I am a little confused about these two stem-changing verbs, which appear to have exactly the same meaning—to begin, to start.
What determines when to use either of these two verbs
¡Le doy gracias por su ayuda!
6 Answers
I think it is as simple as your preference. They both have a similiar connotation "to begin" or "to start" something (whatever that is). Hope this helps and I am sure the gurus will weigh in soon. 
Comenzar means "to commence" and empezar means "to start"
A good example for how these are different in usage, and translates well over to english is the following:
in english: "I want to start exercising." you wouldn't say "i want to commence exercising."
in spanish: "Quiero emepezar a hacer ejercicio" NOT "Quiero comenzar.. a hacer ejercicio."
you'd say that you're "commencing a journey" or having a "commencement ceremony."
"una ceremonia de comenzamiento" or "voy a comenzar una gran adventura"
Comenzar and empezar are interchangeable like begin and start in English
start and begin mean the same in Spanish as example (I will begin my work) or also go to (I shall begin my work are the same I say empezar y comenzar significan lo mismo en español como ejemplo (voy a empezar mi trabajo) o tambien voy a (voy a comenzar mi trabajo son lo mismo te lo digo yo porque yo se spanishyou it because I was English)
Don't be confused.
The 1st definition in the English dictonary for "start" is "to begin" -- and for "begin" is "to start".
So we have the same thing in English.
Sofia (above) is thinking like a gringo, not a Spaniard. It does not matter what comenzar and empezar translate as in English, it only matters what they translate as in Spanish. In Spansih they are the same, absolutely no connotation differences.
