écrire

Écrire is a French verb meaning to write, that is, to form words on a surface or in a medium and to produce written text. It applies to letters, notes, essays, novels, journalism, and other forms of writing, including digital content. The act can be done by hand or using a keyboard, and it can refer to producing any textual artifact, from a casual message to a literary work.

Origin and conjugation: Écrire derives from Old French escrire, from Latin scribere, related to English "scribe" and "scribble." It is an irregular verb of the third group. In the present tense: j’écris, tu écris, il/elle écrit, nous écrivons, vous écrivez, ils écrivent. The past participle is écrit, as in "j’ai écrit." Other tenses include imparfait écrivais, passé simple écrivit, futur écrirai, conditionnel écrirais, and subjonctif écrive/écrivions/écriviez/écrivent. The imperative forms are écris, écrivons, écrivez.

Related nouns and derivatives include écriture (writing, the act or the product of writing), écrivain (writer), and écrivaine (female writer). The noun écrit can mean a written work or a written form; the adjective écrit sometimes means "written" as opposed to "oral."

Usage patterns: écrire à quelqu’un indicates writing a message to someone; écrire sur or écrire au sujet de means to write about; écrire en français indicates writing in a language. In contemporary contexts, écriture encompasses typography, digital text, and handwriting, and the verb itself remains central to fiction, journalism, correspondence, and record-keeping.