Conjugation of escriure | Catalan Grammar

Escriure means “to write.” Its forms fall into a small, learnable family: present escric/escriu; escriv- in the imperfect, gerund, and one simple-past/subjunctive series; escrigu- in the present subjunctive and an alternative past series; escriur- in the future and conditional; and irregular participle escrit. It is not defective, and as a second-conjugation verb it never takes the third-conjugation incoative extension -eix-; forms such as escriveixo are impossible.

This is exactly why treating it as a bag of exceptions is unhelpful. Memorize escric – escrivia – escriví/escriguí – escriuré – escrigui – escrivís/escrigués – escrit. The velar-stem pattern explains escric/escrigui. The syntax then distinguishes the written content from its recipient: escriure una carta but escriure a algú / escriure-li.

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The principal parts predict nearly everything. The velar g appears in escrigui and the optional escrigu- past family; the participle is escrit, never escrivit or escrigut.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	escriure	to write
Perfect infinitive	haver escrit	to have written
Gerund	escrivint	writing
Perfect gerund	havent escrit	having written
Participle	escrit; escrita, escrits, escrites	written

Compound tenses use haver and invariable escrit: he escrit dues cartes; les cartes que he escrit. As an adjective or passive participle, it agrees: una nota escrita a mà; uns acords escrits. The gerund has v: escrivint. Neither escriguent nor escriuent is an acceptable standard alternative.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	escric	escrius	escriu	escrivim	escriviu	escriuen
Imperfect	escrivia	escrivies	escrivia	escrivíem	escrivíeu	escrivien
Periphrastic past	vaig escriure	vas escriure	va escriure	vam escriure	vau escriure	van escriure
Simple past	escriví	escrivires	escriví	escrivírem	escrivíreu	escriviren
Future	escriuré	escriuràs	escriurà	escriurem	escriureu	escriuran
Conditional	escriuria	escriuries	escriuria	escriuríem	escriuríeu	escriurien

The present alternates transparently once learned: escric is velar, escrius/escriu/escriuen lose the v, and escrivim/escriviu preserve it. Future and conditional build on the entire infinitive and therefore have escriur- rather than escrivir-. The simple past also has a fully standard velar alternative: escriguí, escrigueres, escrigué, escriguérem, escriguéreu, escrigueren. In the escriv- series, escriví is both first-person and third-person singular; an explicit subject or the surrounding discourse identifies who wrote.

T'escric des del tren perquè a casa no tindré cobertura.

I'm writing to you from the train because I won't have a signal at home.

Quan vivíem lluny, ens escrivíem cartes llargues cada diumenge.

When we lived far apart, we used to write each other long letters every Sunday.

Ahir vaig escriure al propietari per avisar-lo de la fuita d'aigua.

Yesterday I wrote to the landlord to tell him about the water leak.

Demà escriurem la versió definitiva de l'informe amb totes les esmenes.

Tomorrow we'll write the final version of the report with all the amendments.

The periphrastic past is the neutral conversational choice. Both synthetic series are more (formal/literary) in much Central speech, with regional differences in vitality and preference.

Compound tenses and subjunctive

Indicative tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present perfect	he escrit	has escrit	ha escrit	hem escrit	heu escrit	han escrit
Pluperfect	havia escrit	havies escrit	havia escrit	havíem escrit	havíeu escrit	havien escrit
Past anterior	haguí escrit	hagueres escrit	hagué escrit	haguérem escrit	haguéreu escrit	hagueren escrit
Future perfect	hauré escrit	hauràs escrit	haurà escrit	haurem escrit	haureu escrit	hauran escrit
Conditional perfect	hauria escrit	hauries escrit	hauria escrit	hauríem escrit	hauríeu escrit	haurien escrit

Subjunctive tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	escrigui	escriguis	escrigui	escriguem	escrigueu	escriguin
Imperfect	escrivís	escrivissis	escrivís	escrivíssim	escrivíssiu	escrivissin
Present perfect	hagi escrit	hagis escrit	hagi escrit	hàgim escrit	hàgiu escrit	hagin escrit
Pluperfect	hagués escrit	haguessis escrit	hagués escrit	haguéssim escrit	haguéssiu escrit	haguessin escrit

Present subjunctive consistently uses escrigu-. The u is part of the spelling that supports the velar consonant before i/e; do not drop the g. The imperfect has a second standard series: escrigués, escriguessis, escrigués, escriguéssim, escriguéssiu, escriguessin. Both families are valid, and actual regional preference varies.

La professora vol que escrigueu el resum amb paraules vostres.

The teacher wants you to write the summary in your own words.

Si m'haguessis escrit abans, t'hauria guardat una entrada.

If you'd written to me earlier, I would have saved you a ticket.

Em sorprèn que ningú no hagi escrit encara una resposta formal.

I'm surprised that no one has written a formal reply yet.

Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The two subjunctive rows are restricted (regional/formal) and are not substitutes learners need for the ordinary imperfect subjunctive.

Periphrastic tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Indicative past anterior	vaig haver escrit	vas haver escrit	va haver escrit	vam haver escrit	vau haver escrit	van haver escrit
Subjunctive past	vagi escriure	vagis escriure	vagi escriure	vàgim escriure	vàgiu escriure	vagin escriure
Subjunctive past anterior	vagi haver escrit	vagis haver escrit	vagi haver escrit	vàgim haver escrit	vàgiu haver escrit	vagin haver escrit

Imperative and clitic placement

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	escriu	no escriguis
vostè	escrigui	no escrigui
nosaltres	escriguem	no escriguem
vosaltres	escriviu	no escrigueu
vostès	escriguin	no escriguin

Familiar affirmative commands use escriu/escriviu; the other commands follow the present subjunctive. Pronouns attach after affirmative forms (escriu-me, escriu-li, escriu-ho, escriviu-nos) and precede negative ones (no m'escriguis, no li escrigueu). Written content is a direct object; the recipient is indirect.

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In Li escric una nota, una nota is what is written and li is who receives it. That two-object structure explains why Catalan cannot normally copy colloquial English “I wrote her” as a bare direct object.

—Quan arribis a l'alberg, m'escriuràs? —Sí, t'escriuré de seguida.

—Will you write to me when you reach the hostel? —Yes, I'll write to you right away.

Escriu-li avui mateix i explica-li per què no podràs assistir-hi.

Write to her today and explain why you won't be able to attend.

No ho escriguis al grup general; és informació confidencial.

Don't write it in the main group; it's confidential information.

Content, recipient, medium, and reciprocal use

The content can be a noun phrase (escriure un missatge), a quotation, or a clause (escriure que la reunió s'ajorna). A recipient is introduced by a or represented by a dative clitic: Escric a la directora; li escric cada setmana. Clitic doubling with an explicit recipient occurs in speech and marked information structures, but it is not required. Unlike colloquial English “write someone,” Catalan does not normally treat the person as the direct object.

He escrit a la gestora perquè revisi les xifres abans de presentar-les.

I've written to the manager so that she checks the figures before they are submitted.

Medium and manner take ordinary complements: escriure a mà, amb llapis, a l'ordinador, en català. Escriure sobre introduces a topic, while escriure en can name a language or a surface/context. Locative hi may replace that surface: No escriguis a la portada → No hi escriguis.

L'autora escriu sobre memòria familiar i publica els articles en català.

The author writes about family memory and publishes the articles in Catalan.

Reciprocal escriure's means corresponding with one another: Ens escrivim sovint; fa anys que no s'escriuen. Here the pronoun is semantically required. It is not evidence that plain transitive escriure una carta may arbitrarily become pronominal.

Tot i viure en continents diferents, les dues amigues s'escriuen cada setmana.

Although they live on different continents, the two friends write to each other every week.

Common collocations include escriure a mà, posar per escrit, deixar escrit, escriure una novel·la and escriure amb pseudònim. (Formal) fer constar per escrit is common in administrative language. Escrit also functions as a noun: presentar un escrit (formal/legal).

(Regional: Valencian) present-subjunctive escriga, escrigues, escriga, escriguem, escrigueu, escriguen and imperfect forms in -ra are standard. The core stems escric, escriv-, escrigu-, escriur-, escrit are shared, though distribution among alternative past forms varies across Valencian, Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese usage.

Common Mistakes

❌ He escrivit tres correus i encara no m'han contestat.

Incorrect—the participle is irregular escrit, not escrivit.

✅ He escrit tres correus i encara no m'han contestat.

I've written three emails and they still haven't replied.

❌ La directora vol que escriviu una reclamació formal.

Incorrect if this is intended as the present subjunctive: its second-person plural form uses escrigu-.

✅ La directora vol que escrigueu una reclamació formal.

The director wants you to write a formal complaint.

❌ Escriuré la meva cosina aquest vespre.

Incorrect for the recipient meaning—the person must not be treated as the direct object.

✅ Escriuré a la meva cosina aquest vespre.

I'll write to my cousin this evening.

❌ No escriu-me mentre condueixo.

Incorrect—negative commands use the subjunctive and place the pronoun before the verb.

✅ No m'escriguis mentre condueixo.

Don't write to me while I'm driving.

❌ Des que es van conèixer, escriuen cada setmana.

Incomplete for the intended reciprocal meaning—escriure's requires reciprocal pronouns.

✅ Des que es van conèixer, s'escriuen cada setmana.

They've written to each other every week since they met.

Key Takeaways

Organize escriure around escric, escriv-, escrigu-, escriur- and irregular escrit. Present subjunctive and most non-familiar commands use escrigu-. Content is direct, recipients take a and a dative clitic, and reciprocal escriure's must retain its pronouns. With haver, escrit stays invariable; as an adjective, it agrees.

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