They Started To Work In An Office In Spanish Duolingo | Miss No Hearts

The correct Spanish sentence is “Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina,” with “comenzaron a” before the infinitive.

If the app is asking for “They started to work in an office,” the safest answer is Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina. You may also see Ellos empezaron a trabajar en una oficina accepted in many Spanish drills, since comenzar and empezar both mean “to start.”

The tiny word a is the piece many learners miss. Spanish says comenzar a trabajar, not comenzar trabajar. That pattern matters more than the English word order, because the Spanish verb after comenzar stays in the infinitive.

Why This Translation Works

The sentence has four moving parts: the subject, the past-tense verb, the second verb, and the place. Put them together in this order:

• Ellos = they, when the group is male or mixed.
• Comenzaron = they started.
• A trabajar = to work.
• En una oficina = in an office.

That gives you Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina. The sentence sounds natural because comenzaron carries the past tense, and trabajar stays plain. Spanish often builds “started to do something” with one conjugated verb plus a plus an infinitive.

Taking They Started To Work In An Office In Spanish Duolingo From English To Spanish

The English sentence has “started to work,” so Spanish needs a start verb followed by a trabajar. The RAE entry for comenzar defines comenzar as giving a beginning, which is why it fits this Duolingo sentence cleanly.

Duolingo often accepts one main answer, then marks close answers right when the grammar matches. Comenzaron is the answer seen in many course sets for this sentence. Empezaron can work too, since empezar has the same base sense in daily Spanish.

Why “Comenzaron” Is Better Than “Comenzaban” Here

Comenzaron is preterite. It treats the start as a completed past event. That matches “they started” in a sentence with one clear action.

Comenzaban is imperfect. It can mean “they were starting” or “they used to start,” which changes the feel. The RAE grammar glossary says the preterite presents a situation as finished or completed. That is the reason comenzaron wins here.

Why The “A” Cannot Disappear

Spanish uses comenzar a + infinitive for the idea of starting an action. The same rule works with empezar. The RAE note on empezar + infinitive states that empezar takes a before an infinitive when it means beginning the action named by that verb.

So, comenzaron trabajar sounds clipped and wrong. Add the a: comenzaron a trabajar. That one letter is small, but it decides whether the answer feels native.

Comenzar Vs Empezar In The App

Comenzar and empezar overlap, so learners often wonder which one to type. In a normal Spanish sentence, both can point to the start of an action. In an app drill, the saved answer may favor one verb because that unit taught it first.

That is why Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina is the neat pick for this prompt. It mirrors the stored course phrasing, keeps the preterite ending, and avoids the less natural iniciaron a trabajar. If the app shows a word bank, choose the verb it gives you, then build the rest around a trabajar.

One more check: do not translate “office” as oficio. Oficio can refer to a trade or job type. The room or workplace is oficina. Since it is feminine, the article is una, not un.

Those small noun choices are common in early office lessons, so fixing them saves extra retries.

Sentence Piece	Best Spanish Choice	Why It Fits
They	Ellos	Works for a male or mixed group.
They, all female	Ellas	Works when each person in the group is female.
Started	Comenzaron	Preterite past for a completed start.
Also “started”	Empezaron	Natural synonym in many contexts.
To work	A trabajar	Uses a before the infinitive.
In	En	Marks place or location.
An office	Una oficina	Oficina is feminine, so it takes una.
Full answer	Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.	Matches meaning, tense, and word order.

Common Wrong Answers And Clean Fixes

Most missed answers come from translating word by word. English lets “started to work” feel like a block, but Spanish builds it in parts. Once you see the pattern, the sentence stops feeling random.

When the owl rejects an answer, check the sentence from left to right. Ask three plain questions: Did I use a plural subject? Did I put the start verb in past tense? Did I place a before trabajar? Those three checks catch nearly every slip in this prompt.

“Ellos Comenzaron Trabajar En Una Oficina”

This misses a. The fix is simple: Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina. When comenzar comes before another verb, add a before that second verb.

“Ellos Comienzan A Trabajar En Una Oficina”

This means “They start to work in an office.” It is present tense, not past. The English sentence says “started,” so Spanish needs comenzaron or empezaron.

“Ellos Trabajaron En Una Oficina”

This means “They worked in an office.” It drops the idea of starting. Duolingo will often mark this wrong because it loses part of the meaning.

“Ellos Iniciaron A Trabajar En Una Oficina”

Iniciar can mean “to start” when it takes a noun, as in iniciar una reunión. It is not the natural choice before a trabajar. For this sentence, stick with comenzaron a or empezaron a.

How To Choose Between Ellos And Ellas

Use ellos when the group is male or mixed. Use ellas when the group is all female. Duolingo may accept either only when the prompt or picture allows both.

This is one place where Spanish asks for detail that English hides. “They” does not show gender in English, but Spanish often does. If no image, audio, or earlier sentence points to an all-female group, ellos is the safer entry.

If the English prompt only says “they,” Spanish still needs a gendered subject when you include the pronoun. The default answer in many drills is ellos. You can also omit the pronoun and say Comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina, because the ending -aron already tells the listener “they.” In app exercises, include the pronoun when the prompt seems to expect a full sentence.

Answer	Use It When	Duolingo Risk
Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.	Default full answer for “they.”	Lowest.
Ellas comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.	The group is all female.	Low if gender fits.
Comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.	Pronoun is not needed.	May vary by exercise.
Ellos empezaron a trabajar en una oficina.	A synonym is allowed.	Usually low, but prompt sets the answer.

Memory Tricks That Make The Sentence Stick

Pair the verbs in your head: comenzar a trabajar, empezar a estudiar, comenzar a escribir. The middle a becomes part of the phrase, not an extra detail you add later.

A good drill is to swap only one piece at a time. Keep comenzaron a, then change the second verb: comenzaron a leer, comenzaron a escribir, comenzaron a estudiar. Then keep en una oficina and swap the start verb: empezaron a trabajar en una oficina. That teaches the pattern, not just one answer.

Then drill the past ending. For a group doing an action in the past, many Spanish verbs end in -aron: trabajaron, hablaron, comenzaron. Since the sentence is about the start, use comenzaron for the first verb and leave trabajar unchanged.

• Present: Ellos comienzan a trabajar. They start to work.
• Past: Ellos comenzaron a trabajar. They started to work.
• Place added: Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.

Final Answer To Type

Type this for the standard Duolingo-style answer:

Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina.

If your lesson accepts synonyms, Ellos empezaron a trabajar en una oficina may pass too. The safer pick is comenzaron when that is the sentence set’s stored answer. Watch the accent-free endings, keep a before trabajar, and use una because oficina is feminine.

Final Checks Before You Submit

Read the answer once out loud: Ellos comenzaron a trabajar en una oficina. It should have a clean rhythm: subject, start verb, a, work verb, place. If one part is missing, the sentence will feel short.

• Use comenzaron, not comienzan, for past tense.
• Use a trabajar, not only trabajar, after the start verb.
• Use una oficina, because oficina takes a feminine article.
• Use ellos unless the prompt clearly points to ellas.

Once those parts are in place, the sentence matches the English meaning and the Spanish grammar. That is what the app is checking.