Décriviez

Décriviez is a French verb form derived from décrire, the base meaning to describe. The spelling corresponds to two distinct grammatical cases that share the same written form: the imperfect indicative second-person plural and the present subjunctive second-person plural. This duality means that the same string décriviez can be understood as either “you were describing” (or “you described” in the past) or as the present subjunctive “that you describe,” depending on the syntactic context.

In terms of conjugation, both cases use the stem décriv- with the appropriate endings. For the imperfect indicative, the second-person plural ends in -iez, as in vous décriviez. For the present subjunctive, the same spelling appears in que vous décriviez. Because these two forms are homographs, context, mood markers, or accompanying words typically determine the intended meaning.

Usage notes emphasize that the imperfect indictive usually conveys a past action described in narrative or descriptive contexts, while the present subjunctive appears in subordinate clauses after expressions requiring the subjunctive or after certain conjunctions, often in more formal or literary language. Distinguishing between the two relies on surrounding grammatical cues such as tense markers or the presence of a “que” clause.

Etymologically, décrire traces back to Latin describere, through Old French, evolving into the modern verb décrire. The form décriviez illustrates how French preserves historical mood distinctions in a single orthographic form, underscoring the importance of syntax for interpretation.