schreven

Schreven is the simple past tense form of the Dutch verb schrijven, which means to write. It is used with plural subjects in the verleden tijd (past tense), as in Wij schreven een brief or Zij schreven hun namen op het formulier. The corresponding singular past tense forms are ik schreef, jij schreef, and hij/zij schreef. The past participle of schrijven is geschreven, used with hebben or sometimes zijn to form perfect tenses, for example Ze hebben geschreven.

Origin and cognates: Schrijven belongs to the Germanic language family. It is cognate with German schreiben, English to write, and Swedish skriva, all sharing a common historical root. In Old Dutch the verb appears in forms that evolved into the modern schrijven, schreven, and geschreven over time.

Usage and function: Schreven is commonly found in narrative prose, journalism, and everyday speech to describe past actions of writing by multiple subjects. It contrasts with schiep or schreef, which are used for singular subjects in the past tense, and with geschreven, the past participle used in compound tenses. In indirect speech and when reporting past events, schreven frequently appears alongside other past-tense forms.

Related forms: The base verb is schrijven. The infinitive is schrijven; the present tense forms include ik schrijf, jij schrijft, hij schrijft, wij schrijven, jullie schrijven, zij schrijven. The past tense shown here, schreven, is specifically the plural past form, while singular past is schreef and the past participle is geschreven.