# Écrire Conjugation — Every Tense of the French Verb “To Write”

> **Écrire** means “to write”. Présent: **j’écris, tu écris, il écrit, nous écrivons, vous écrivez, ils écrivent**. A *v* appears in the plural that the infinitive gives no sign of, and the past participle is **écrit**.

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Updated: 2026-09-16

## 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |

## FAQ

### 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.

## Related guides

- Lire conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/lire-conjugation
- Dire conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/dire-conjugation
- French verb conjugation: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides/french-verb-conjugation
- All free French guides: https://cocoonfrench.com/guides