An internal combustion engine, especially an engine for a motor vehicle, is described which is provided with a piston, which is movable in a cylinder and acts on a crankshaft. The piston can run through an intake phase, a compression phase, a work phase and a discharge phase. A control apparatus is provided with which the fuel can be injected directly into a combustion chamber delimited by the cylinder and the piston in a first operating mode during a compression phase or in a second operating mode during an intake phase. The control apparatus is so configured that, for starting the engine at standstill of the crankshaft, fuel can be injected into that cylinder (no. 1) whose piston is disposed in the compression phase and can be ignited (20, 21) so that the crankshaft moves rearwardly (22).