Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to write.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écris | I write | |
| tu | écris | you write | |
| il / elle / on | écrit | he / she / it writeson: we write / one writes | |
| nous | écrivons | we write | |
| vous | écrivez | you write | |
| ils / elles | écrivent | they write |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul écrit une lettre à sa sœur.
Paul writes a letter to his sister.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai écrit | I wrote | |
| tu | as écrit | you wrote | |
| il / elle / on | a écrit | he / she / it wroteon: we wrote / one wrote | |
| nous | avons écrit | we wrote | |
| vous | avez écrit | you wrote | |
| ils / elles | ont écrit | they wrote |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a écrit une lettre à sa sœur.
Yesterday, Paul wrote a letter to his sister.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrivais | I used to write | |
| tu | écrivais | you used to write | |
| il / elle / on | écrivait | he / she / it used to writeon: we used to write / one used to write | |
| nous | écrivions | we used to write | |
| vous | écriviez | you used to write | |
| ils / elles | écrivaient | they used to write |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul écrivait une lettre à sa sœur.
Back then, Paul used to write a letter to his sister.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrirai | I will write | |
| tu | écriras | you will write | |
| il / elle / on | écrira | he / she / it will writeon: we will write / one will write | |
| nous | écrirons | we will write | |
| vous | écrirez | you will write | |
| ils / elles | écriront | they will write |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul écrira une lettre à sa sœur.
Later, Paul will write a letter to his sister.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrirais | I would write | |
| tu | écrirais | you would write | |
| il / elle / on | écrirait | he / she / it would writeon: we would write / one would write | |
| nous | écririons | we would write | |
| vous | écririez | you would write | |
| ils / elles | écriraient | they would write |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul écrirait une lettre à sa sœur.
Paul would write a letter to his sister.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | écrive | (that) I write | |
| tu | écrives | (that) you write | |
| il / elle / on | écrive | (that) he / she / it writeson: (that) we write / one writes | |
| nous | écrivions | (that) we write | |
| vous | écriviez | (that) you write | |
| ils / elles | écrivent | (that) they write |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul écrive une lettre à sa sœur.
It is possible that Paul writes a letter to his sister.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to write
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations