"Il commence aujourd'hui."

Translation: He starts today.

[ChrilleBarnabas]

I know that aujourd'hui means today, but could someone please break it down to me exactly what it means? Why the apostrophe?

[Brett_Cowell]

Its actually a combination of three words :) The french language used to use a word based on the latin hoide meaning 'on this day', to mean today, i.e. hui.
However this sounds quite like oui in spoken french.
So it became necessary to say:
A: Hui!
B: Oui?
A: Non! Au jour d'hui... (on the day of today)
Enter the phrase Aujourd'hui :D

[amuzulo]

Is "It starts today." also acceptable?

[Kiera_Durston]

It should be, because 'il' means he and it. (M)

[stan139840]

commence means start

[Tom107857]

What would "he starts today " be?