Écrivent

Écrivent is the third-person plural present indicative form of the French verb écrire, meaning "to write." It is used when the subject, they (masculine or mixed), or they (feminine) performs the action of writing in the present tense. For example: Ils écrivent des romans. Elles écrivent des lettres.

Etymology and conjugation: écrire comes from Old French escripre, from Latin scribere. In modern French, écrire is irregular in the present tense. The full present tense paradigm is: j'écris, tu écris, il/elle écrit, nous écrivons, vous écrivez, ils/elles écrivent. The form écrivent ends with -ent as expected for third-person plural, but the root is écri- with the appropriate ending.

Usage notes: Écrivent appears in a wide range of contexts, from everyday conversation to journalism and literature. It can describe actions performed by groups or generic subjects, and it is often followed by direct object indicating what is written (des lettres, des articles, des romans, etc.). The pronunciation is roughly [ekʁiv] in standard French.

Related forms: The verb é noter forms a central family around écrire, including j'écris, ils écrivent, and the past participle écrit, which combines with auxiliary être to form compound tenses (il a écrit, ils ont écrit). The noun écrivain means "writer," and écriture refers to "writing" or "the act of writing."

See also: The term is commonly encountered in French-language texts and can be contrasted with d’autres formes de écrire (e.g., écrire à quelqu’un, écrire un texte).