French Verb Focus: Ecrire (To Write)

Is there anyone who never writes anything? Even if we don’t write so many letters these days, we write emails, blogs, text messages…. so we need to know the verb écrire, to write. Although it is irregular, I’m sure you will find that it is not too difficult to learn.

Ecrire – to write

PRESENT TENSE

J’écris – I write, I am writing
Tu écris – you write, you are writing (singular, familiar)
Il écrit – he writes, he is writing
Elle écrit – she writes, she is writing
Nous écrivons – we write, we are writing
Vous écrivez – you write, you are writing (polite, plural)
Ils écrivent – they write, they are writing (m.)
Elles écrivent – they write, they are writing (f.)

PERFECT TENSE (PASSE COMPOSE)

J’ai écrit – I have written, I wrote, I did write
Tu as écrit – you have written, you wrote, you did write
Il a écrit – he has written, he wrote, he did write
Elle a écrit – she has written, she wrote, she did write
Nous avons écrit – we have written, we wrote, we did write
Vous avez écrit – you have written, you wrote, you did write
Ils ont écrit – they have written, they wrote, they did write
Elles ont écrit – they have written, they wrote, they did write

FUTURE TENSE

Je t’écrirai tous les jours. – I will to you every day.
Tu écriras ton autobiographie. – You will write your autobiography.
Il écrira pour leur demander un formulaire. – He will write away for a form.
Elle écrira des histoires. – She will write stories.
Nous leur écrirons que nous viendrons – We will write and tell them we’re coming.
Vous m’écrirez toujours. – You will still write to me.
Ils écriront pendant leur voyage. – They will write during their trip.
Elles écriront à l’encre l’année prochaine. – They will write in pen next year.

IMPERFECT TENSE

Je t’écrivais une lettre quand tu m’as téléphoné. – I was writing you a letter when you phoned me.

CONDITIONAL TENSE

J’écrirais un roman si j’avais le temps. – I would write a novel if I had time.

IMPERATIVE

Ecris-moi bientôt. – Write to me soon. (tu form)
Ecrivons une lettre à nos parents. – Let’s write a letter to our parents.
Ecrivez autant que vous pouvez. – Write as much as you can. (vous form)

SUBJUNCTIVE

Il faut que j’écrive à ma soeur. – I must write to my sister.

NOTE also ‘ça s’écrit comment?’ meaning ‘how is that spelt?’ (literally, ‘how is that written?’)

With thanks to Elizabeth Allen