The preterite of escribir is used to express when you wrote something specific in the past. For example, you might say “I wrote the letter this morning,” indicating a completed writing action at a particular time.

This is a regular -ir verb that follows the standard preterite conjugation pattern. The endings are added directly to the stem ‘escrib-‘ without any changes.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Escribir (to write) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of escribir indicates completed acts of writing.

Wrote: Describes completing a piece of writing, for example Escribí un poema ayer (I wrote a poem yesterday). Also used for correspondence, as in Me escribió una carta (He/she wrote me a letter).

Authored: Used for creating written works, for example Escribió tres novelas en su vida (He/she wrote three novels in their life).

Examples

Examples of Escribir in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Escribí una carta a mis padres. (I wrote a letter to my parents.)

¿Escribiste el informe ayer? (Did you write the report yesterday?)

El autor escribió tres novelas. (The author wrote three novels.)

Escribimos un mensaje de felicitación. (We wrote a congratulations message.)

Los estudiantes escribieron un ensayo. (The students wrote an essay.)

Escribí mi nombre en la lista. (I wrote my name on the list.)

¿Por qué no me escribiste? (Why didn’t you write to me?)

La poeta escribió un hermoso poema. (The poet wrote a beautiful poem.)

Escribimos la dirección correcta. (We wrote the correct address.)

Los periodistas escribieron sobre el evento. (The journalists wrote about the event.)

Escribí un correo electrónico importante. (I wrote an important email.)

¿Escribiste tus memorias? (Did you write your memoirs?)

Mi amigo escribió una canción. (My friend wrote a song.)

Escribimos nuestros deseos para el año nuevo. (We wrote our wishes for the new year.)

Los niños escribieron cartas a Santa. (The children wrote letters to Santa.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Escribir (to write) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Latin American Spanish. For Castilian Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Preterite tense is also known as the Simple Past, Past Simple, Definite Past, Absolute Past, or Past Tense Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Perfecto Simple, Pretérito Indefinido, Pretérito Simple, Pasado Simple, or Pretérito de Indicativo in Spanish.