Escribir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Escribir in Spanish

Many -IR verbs in Spanish are irregular and, as a result, they have their own unique pattern. However, since it’s a regular verb, learning the escribir conjugation patterns can help you practice the -IR conjugation model. So, in this guide, we’ll go over the escribir conjugation charts you need to become fluent in Spanish.

Overview of Escribir

Verb Characteristic	Property
Verb Type	-IR
Irregular	No
Infinitive	Escribir
Gerund (Present Participle) Form	Escribiendo
Past Participle Form	Escrito
Synonyms	Anotar, redactar.

Indicative Conjugations of Escribir

Present tense

Escribir present tense conjugations are regular. We use these escribir forms to express what or how a person currently writes. For example: Ese autor escribe novelas de terror.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribo	I write
Tú	Escribes	You write
Él / Ella Usted	Escribe	He/She writes You (formal) write
Nosotros	Escribimos	We write
Vosotros	Escribís	You write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escriben	They write You (plural) write

Preterite tense

Escribir preterite conjugations talk about what or how people wrote something in the past. If needed, you can use time expressions to point to a specific moment in the past. For example: Ayer, Jonathan te escribió una carta.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribí	I wrote
Tú	Escribiste	You wrote
Él / Ella Usted	Escribió	He/She wrote You (formal) wrote
Nosotros	Escribimos	We wrote
Vosotros	Escribisteis	You wrote
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribieron	They wrote You (plural) wrote

Imperfect tense

The imperfect tense conjugations of escribir allow you to talk about the things people used to write repeatedly in the past or for an extended period of time. For example: Cuando eran niños, mis hermanos escribían muy mal.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribía	I wrote I used to write
Tú	Escribías	You wrote You used to write
Él / Ella Usted	Escribía	He/She wrote He/She used to write You (formal) wrote You (formal) used to write
Nosotros	Escribíamos	We wrote We used to write
Vosotros	Escribíais	You wrote You used to write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribían	They wrote They used to write You (plural) wrote You (plural) used to write

Near future

To conjugate escribir to the Spanish near future, use the structure ir (present tense) + a + escribir. We use these forms to communicate that a person is going to write something soon in the future. For instance: En unas horas, voy a escribirle a la aerolínea.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Voy a escribir	I’m going to write
Tú	Vas a escribir	You’re going to write
Él / Ella Usted	Va a escribir	He/She is going to write You (formal) are going to write
Nosotros	Vamos a escribir	We’re going to write
Vosotros	Vais a escribir	You’re going to write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Van a escribir	They’re going to write You (plural) are going to write

Future simple tense

Escribir conjugated to the Spanish simple future communicates that someone will write at some point in the future. Algún día, escribiré una novela.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribiré	I will write
Tú	Escribirás	You will write
Él / Ella Usted	Escribirá	He/She will write You (formal) will write
Nosotros	Escribiremos	We will write
Vosotros	Escribiréis	You (formal) will write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribirán	They will write You (plural) will write

Conditional tense

As you can see in escribir’s conjugation chart below, this verb is regular when conjugated to the conditional tense. Among other applications, these forms can be used to ask someone if they would write something. For instance: ¿Me escribirías una canción?

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribiría	I would write
Tú	Escribirías	You would write
Él / Ella Usted	Escribiría	He/She would write You (formal) would write
Nosotros	Escribiríamos	We would write
Vosotros	Escribiríais	You would write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribirían	They would write You (plural) would write

Present perfect tense

Haber in the present tense + escrito (past participle) is the formula to conjugate to the Spanish present perfect indicative. Use these escribir conjugations to talk about what someone has or hasn’t written. For example: No he escrito el artículo que me pediste.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	He escrito	I have written
Tú	Has escrito	You have written
Él / Ella Usted	Ha escrito	He/She has written You (formal) have written
Nosotros	Hemos escrito	We have written
Vosotros	Habéis escrito	You have written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Han escrito	They have written You (plural) have written

Take Note: Escribir is one of the few verbs with an irregular past participle in Spanish.

Past perfect

Conjugate escribir to the past perfect tense in Spanish to express that someone had or hadn’t written before another past action or past time frame. For example: No te había escrito porque estaba ocupada.

Haber (imperfect form) + past participle form of ‘escribir’ is the formula used to conjugate to this tense.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Había escrito	I had written
Tú	Habías escrito	You had written
Él / Ella Usted	Había escrito	He/She had written You (formal) had written
Nosotros	Habíamos escrito	We had written
Vosotros	Habíais escrito	You had written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habían escrito	They had written You (plural) had written

Future perfect

When conjugated to the Spanish future perfect tense, this verb is used to convey that someone will have written something by or before a specific future time frame. You can also use these conjugations to say someone might have written something.

For example: Para el lunes, habremos escrito diez reportes.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Habré escrito	I will have written
Tú	Habrás escrito	You will have written
Él / Ella Usted	Habrá escrito	He/She will have written You (formal) will have written
Nosotros	Habremos escrito	We will have written
Vosotros	Habréis escrito	You will have written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habrán escrito	They will have written You (plural) will have written

Conditional perfect

Conjugate escribir to the conditional perfect tense to express that someone would have written as long as a past condition had been met. For example: Te habría escrito antes, pero no sabía si estabas enojada.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Habría escrito	I would have written
Tú	Habrías escrito	You would have written
Él / Ella Usted	Habría escrito	He/She would have written You (formal) would have written
Nosotros	Habríamos escrito	We would have written
Vosotros	Habríais escrito	You would have written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Habrían escrito	They would have written You (plural) would have written

Progressive tenses

In Spanish, the progressive tenses of escribir allow you to explain that someone is writing something at the moment of speaking. To form these tenses use estar + escribiendo (present participle). For example: ¿Qué están escribiendo?

Progressive Tense	Formula	Translation Example
Present	Estar (present) + escribiendo	I am writing
Preterite	Estar (preterite) + escribiendo	You were writing
Imperfect	Estar (imperfect) + escribiendo	He was writing
Future	Estar (future) + escribiendo	We will be writing
Conditional	Estar (conditional) + escribiendo	They would be writing

Escribir Subjunctive Conjugations

In Spanish, we use the subjunctive mood to talk about wishes, requests, suggestions, expectations, doubts, or hypothetical situations. Below, you’ll find escribir conjugation charts for the most common subjunctive tenses.

Present subjunctive

Escribir is a regular verb in the present subjunctive tense. Use these subjunctive conjugations to request, wish, or suggest someone writes something. For instance: Necesito que le escriban al jefe de marketing.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escriba	I write
Tú	Escribas	You write
Él / Ella Usted	Escriba	He/She writes You (formal) write
Nosotros	Escribamos	We write
Vosotros	Escribáis	You write
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escriban	They write You (plural) write

Present perfect subjunctive

To form the present perfect subjunctive of ‘escribir’, use the formula haber in the present subjunctive + escrito. We use these forms to wonder, express doubt or wish that a person has already written something. For example: ¿Quién crees que haya escrito este correo?

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Haya escrito	I have written
Tú	Hayas escrito	You have written
Él / Ella Usted	Haya escrito	He/She has written You (formal) have written
Nosotros	Hayamos escrito	We have written
Vosotros	Hayáis escrito	You have written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Hayan escrito	They have written You (plural) have written

Imperfect subjunctive

Use the imperfect subjunctive conjugations of escribir to refer to past suggestions, requests, and wishes you had about someone writing something. Les pedí que escribieran mil palabras.

Depending on the type of Spanish you use, the imperfect subjunctive tense has two conjugation models:

Latin American Spanish version

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribiera	I wrote
Tú	Escribieras	You wrote
Él / Ella Usted	Escribiera	He/She wrote You (formal) wrote
Nosotros	Escribiéramos	We wrote
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribieran	They wrote You (plural) wrote

Note: The pronoun vosotros is not used in Latin American Spanish. As a result, the escribir conjugation has been omitted in the table above.

Castilian Spanish version

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Escribiese	I wrote
Tú	Escribieses	You wrote
Él / Ella Usted	Escribiese	He/She wrote You (formal) wrote
Nosotros	Escribiésemos	We wrote
Vosotros	Escribieseis	You wrote
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Escribiesen	They wrote You (plural) wrote

Past perfect subjunctive

Conjugate escribir to the past perfect subjunctive to communicate that someone would have written if a past circumstance or condition was met. These conjugations can also express regret for writing or not writing something.

For example: Si hubieras escrito esa carta, a lo mejor nos habrían ayudado.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Yo	Hubiera escrito	I had written
Tú	Hubieras escrito	You had written
Él / Ella Usted	Hubiera escrito	He/She had written You (formal) had written
Nosotros	Hubiéramos escrito	We had written
Vosotros	Hubierais escrito	You had written
Ellos / Ellas Ustedes	Hubieran escrito	They had written You (plural) had written

Escribir Imperative Conjugations

Use the imperative mood in Spanish to order people to do or not do something.

Affirmative commands

Escribir conjugated to the affirmative imperative is used to order people to write something. For example: Por favor, escriba su nombre y dirección.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Tú	Escribe	Write
Usted	Escriba	Write
Vosotros	Escribid	Write
Ustedes	Escriban	Write

Negative commands

Use negative commands if, instead, you want to order someone not to write something or in a certain way. For instance: No escribas tu nombre en mayúsculas.

Person	Conjugation	Translation
Tú	No escribas	Don’t write
Usted	No escriba	Don’t write
Vosotros	No escribáis	Don’t write
Ustedes	No escriban	Don’t write

Meanings of Escribir & Examples

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate the verb escribir in Spanish, check these examples of how to apply this verb correctly.

Escribir means ‘to write’ or ‘to compose’. You can use different parts of speech in Spanish to talk about what or how a person is writing.

[Escribir conjugated] + [complement]

Sólo he escrito dos páginas.
I have only written two pages.

Le voy a escribir una carta a mi novio.
I am going to write a letter to my boyfriend.

Mis amigos escriben con muchas faltas de ortografía. My friends write with a lot of spelling mistakes.

Take Note: Notice that you need to use Spanish indirect object pronouns when expressing that you’re writing to someone.

Download Escribir Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

Escribir is one of the few regular IR verbs with an irregular past participle form. I’ve created a downloadable PDF containing all of escribir’s forms in the various tenses so you can review them at your convenience.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Escribir Conjugation

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate escribir in Spanish, you can practice your IR verb skills by taking the escribir conjugation practice quiz.

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