Spanish All-in-One For Dummies
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Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like escribir, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

Escribir (ehs-kree-bveer) (to write) is a regular -ir verb, so its conjugation is pretty straightforward. Here it is in the present tense:

The Present Tense of Escribir
Conjugation Translation
yo escribo I write
tú escribes You (informal) write
él/ella/ello/uno escribe He/she/one writes
usted escribe You (formal) write
nosotros escribimos We write
vosotros escribís You all (informal) write
ellos/ellas escriben They write
ustedes escriben You all (formal) write

The following examples show you escribir in action:

  • Escribo una carta a mis padres. (I write a letter to my parents.)

  • Juan escribe su diario. (Juan writes his diary.)

Need to know how to conjugate escribir in another tense? The following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.

The Preterit Tense of Escribir
Conjugation Translation
yo escribí I wrote
tú escribiste You (informal) wrote
él/ella/ello/uno escribió He/she/one wrote
usted escribió You (formal) wrote
nosotros escribimos We wrote
vosotros escribisteis You all (informal) wrote
ellos/ellas escribieron They wrote
ustedes escribieron You all (formal) wrote

You use the preterit tense like this:

  • Tú escribiste la carta. (You wrote the letter.)

  • ¿Escribió María a su mamá? (Did María write to her mother?)

The Imperfect Tense of Escribir
Conjugation Translation
yo escribía I used to write
tú escribías You (informal) used to write
él/ella/ello/uno escribía He/she/one used to write
usted escribía You (formal) used to write
nosotros escribíamos We used to write
vosotros escribíais You all (informal) used to write
ellos/ellas escribían They used to write
ustedes escribían You all (formal) used to write

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

  • Escribíamos con tinta cuando éramos niños. (We used to write with ink when we were kids.)

  • Los profesores de la universidad escribían con cuidado (The university professors used to write carefully.)

The Future Tense of Escribir
Conjugation Translation
yo escribiré I will write
tú escribirás You (informal) will write
él/ella/ello/uno escribirá He/she/one will write
usted escribirá You (formal) will write
nosotros escribiremos We will write
vosotros escribiréis You all (informal) will write
ellos/ellas escribirán They will write
ustedes escribirán You all (formal) will write

The following samples put the future tense to work:

  • ¿Escribirán ellos los exámenes? (Will they write their exams?)

  • Sí. Los escribirán mañana. (Yes. They will write them tomorrow.)

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