Began versus begun?

[dilbertina]

Help! Dd was reading her reading scheme book to me last night (think it was a fireflies one), it contained the sentence "The removal men begun unloading the lorry". Dd read this as "The removal men began unloading the lorry". I didn't correct her as actually I'm not sure "begun" is correct anyway, and I was more impressed she automatically corrected the grammar rather than reading the word actually written.

I have now spent the day with begun and began fighting it out in my head. Which do you think it should be please?!

not sure but i would say began

begin began begun

So begin is the infinitive
bagan is the past tense (so correct in the sentence 'The removal men bagan unloading the lorry'
begun is the past participle so correct in the sentence 'Have you begun your homework yet?'

began, obv

"Begun" sounded wrong to me to start with, but then I kept saying it and started sounding less wrong.

Would now be a good time to admit I did put gentle comment in reading review book to teacher about grammar in scheme books?!

Now I'm worried I may not only be a prat, but an incorrect prat. P)lease can more people tell me begun is wrong?! (Many thanks Pipsqueak and Midnight!)

Trust me, it's wrong.

There's a good explanation at:

wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_began_and_begun

which basically says you can use began on its own as in "The men began unloading", because began is the past tense verb; but as begun is a particple you have add on a past tense verb, as in "The men had begun unloading".

You could print out that answers.com page and give it to your DD's teacher if that would help.

All I've written, really, is a just long-winded way of reinforcing pipsqueaks view and backing up what midnightexpress has already explained.

Kudos to your DD for having the confidence to read what should have been there rather than what was printed on the page. Smart girl. [thumbs up emoticon]

Damn. I previewed my post and carefully checked it. But almost immediately after clicking on "post message" I could see I had made two errors.

Yes, I think I have a new recruit to the pedant ranks on my hands! Many thanks.