Spanish word of the week: principio

This week’s Spanish word of the week is principio.

Principio is a masculine noun that means beginning. You can listen to the pronunciation of principio in the audio clip below:

When you want to talk about the beginning of something, principio is one way of saying it:

El principio del libro es muy interesante. The beginning of the book is very interesting.
El proyecto ha estado plagado de problemas desde el principio. The project has been plagued with problems from the beginning.

desde el principio hasta el fin from beginning to end (or from start to finish)

Principio is also used in expressions to do with time, especially in the phrases al principio and a principios:

Al principio parecía muy fácil. It seemed very easy at first.
Solo salgo al principio de la obra. I only make one appearance at the beginning of the play.

a principios de la primavera at the beginning of spring

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!