French guides · Verb tables + audio

Écrire: to write — and the v from nowhere.

Écrire means “to write”. Like lire, it grows a consonant in the plural that the infinitive does not contain — here a v, giving nous écrivons. And like most verbs of communicating, it points at its recipient with à: you write to somebody in French, always, even where English would drop the word.

Cocoon French·Updated 16 September 2026·4 min read

Présent — écri- and écriv-

The singular is bare — écris, écris, écrit, all one sound — and the plural adds v: écrivons, écrivez, écrivent. That v then runs through most of the rest of the verb.

French	English	Listen
j’écris	I write
tu écris	you write
il / elle écrit	he / she writes
nous écrivons	we write
vous écrivez	you write
ils / elles écrivent	they write

The elision

Écrire starts with a vowel, so je contracts: it is j’écris, never je écris. And the plural liaises — nous écrivons is heard as “noo-ZAY-cree-vohn”, with the s of nous pulled across.

The family

Décrire (to describe), s’inscrire (to sign up, to enrol) and prescrire all follow identically. S’inscrire in particular is worth having — it is the verb on every French registration form.

Writing to someone

French marks the recipient with à, and then replaces it with an indirect pronoun — which is a different set of words from the direct ones.

French	Means
j’écris à Marie	I’m writing to Marie	the à is compulsory
je lui écris	I’m writing to him / her	not je l’écris
je leur écris	I’m writing to them
ça s’écrit comment ?	how is that spelled?	literally “how does it write itself?”
écrire un mot	to write a note	un mot is a note, not just a word

⚠ je lui écris, not je l’écris

Je l’écris means “I write it” — the letter, not the person. Because the person is introduced by à, they are an indirect object and take lui or leur. The same applies to dire, parler, téléphoner and répondre.

Passé composé — écrit

With avoir, participle écrit — identical to the il form of the présent, which is a small mercy.

French	English	Listen
j’ai écrit	I wrote / have written
tu as écrit	you wrote / have written
il / elle a écrit	he / she wrote / have written
nous avons écrit	we wrote / have written
vous avez écrit	you wrote / have written
ils / elles ont écrit	they wrote / have written

Imparfait — all écriv-

From écrivons, so the v is everywhere: j’écrivais.

French	English	Listen
j’écrivais	I used to write / was writing
tu écrivais	you used to write / was writing
il / elle écrivait	he / she used to write / was writing
nous écrivions	we used to write / was writing
vous écriviez	you used to write / was writing
ils / elles écrivaient	they used to write / was writing

Futur and conditionnel — écrir-

Back to the infinitive minus its e, and the v disappears again: j’écrirai.

French	English	Listen
j’écrirai	I will write
tu écriras	you will write
il / elle écrira	he / she will write
nous écrirons	we will write
vous écrirez	you will write
ils / elles écriront	they will write

Conditionnel — would write

J’écrirais. Common in advice: à ta place, j’écrirais d’abord, “if I were you I’d write first”.

French	English	Listen
j’écrirais	I would write
tu écrirais	you would write
il / elle écrirait	he / she would write
nous écririons	we would write
vous écririez	you would write
ils / elles écriraient	they would write

Subjonctif — écrive

Built off the plural stem, so the v stays throughout: il faut que j’écrive.

French	English	Listen
j’écrive	(that) I write
tu écrives	(that) you write
il / elle écrive	(that) he / she write
nous écrivions	(that) we write
vous écriviez	(that) you write
ils / elles écrivent	(that) they write

Impératif — write it down

Écris ! and écrivez ! — and, when you cannot catch a name, the single most useful sentence on this page: vous pouvez l’écrire, s’il vous plaît ?

French	English	Listen
écris !	write! (to one person you know)
écrivons !	let’s write!
écrivez !	write! (formal, or to a group)

Plus-que-parfait — had written

J’avais écrit. With a preceding object it agrees: la lettre que j’avais écrite.

French	English	Listen
j’avais écrit	I had written
tu avais écrit	you had written
il / elle avait écrit	he / she had written
nous avions écrit	we had written
vous aviez écrit	you had written
ils / elles avaient écrit	they had written

Hear it, then say it

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Quick answers

Écrire, answered.

The questions that come up while you are learning the table.

How do you conjugate écrire in the present tense?+

J’écris, tu écris, il / elle écrit, nous écrivons, vous écrivez, ils / elles écrivent. The v appears only in the plural.

What is the past participle of écrire?+

Écrit, with avoir: j’ai écrit.

How do you say “I wrote to him” in French?+

Je lui ai écrit. The person is an indirect object because écrire takes à, so it is lui, not le.

How do you ask how a word is spelled in French?+

Ça s’écrit comment ? — literally “how does that write itself?”. More formally, comment est-ce que ça s’écrit ?

Which verbs conjugate like écrire?+

Décrire, s’inscrire, prescrire and souscrire — all with the same v in the plural.