Conjugation of dir | Catalan Grammar

Dir means “to say” and, with an indirect recipient, “to tell.” It also appears in the pronominal naming construction dir-se, in voler dir “to mean,” and in discourse expressions such as és a dir “that is to say.” English learners therefore need both its irregular forms and its argument pattern: Catalan says something to someone.

Its forms fall into a manageable family: present dic/dius, imperfect deia, velar digu- in the past and subjunctive, future dir-, and participle dit. These stems are related historically, but no reliable modern spelling rule derives every one from the infinitive.

Because speech verbs so often combine a message and a recipient, the separate guide to indirect-object pronouns is a useful companion to this paradigm.

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Learn dic – deia – digué – diré – digui – digues – dit. This chain predicts the main tense families and also separates indicative dius from imperative digues.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	dir	to say; to tell
Perfect infinitive	haver dit	to have said/told
Gerund	dient	saying; telling
Perfect gerund	havent dit	having said/told
Participle	dit; dita, dits, dites	said; told

The gerund is dient, not diguent in the general standard. In a compound tense, dit stays invariable: les coses que han dit. It agrees when it functions adjectivally: la paraula dita, els compromisos dits. The noun dit “finger” is a homograph; grammar and context distinguish m'he tallat el dit from t'ho he dit.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	dic	dius	diu	diem	dieu	diuen
Imperfect	deia	deies	deia	dèiem	dèieu	deien
Periphrastic past	vaig dir	vas dir	va dir	vam dir	vau dir	van dir
Simple past	diguí	digueres	digué	diguérem	diguéreu	digueren
Future	diré	diràs	dirà	direm	direu	diran
Conditional	diria	diries	diria	diríem	diríeu	dirien

The present alternation dic, dius, diu, diem, dieu, diuen must be memorized. It is not an incoative third-conjugation verb: direixo and diceixo are impossible. The imperfect changes the stem vowel to de-; accents in dèiem and dèieu preserve the intended stress and vowel quality.

Everyday completed narration normally uses vaig dir. Synthetic diguí, digueres... is frequent in (formal/literary) prose and remains spoken in some Valencian and Balearic communities (regional). Future and conditional are comparatively transparent: diré, diria.

Sempre dic el mateix: abans de sortir, comproveu que les finestres estiguin tancades.

I always say the same thing: before leaving, check that the windows are closed.

De petit deia que seria cuiner, però al final va estudiar arquitectura.

As a child he used to say he would be a cook, but in the end he studied architecture.

A la reunió van dir que la reforma començaria al juny.

At the meeting they said that the renovation would begin in June.

La portaveu digué que no faria més declaracions aquell vespre.

The spokesperson said that she would make no further statements that evening. (formal/literary)

Indicative: compound tenses

Compound forms use haver + dit. Weak pronouns stand before the finite auxiliary (t'ho he dit), not between haver and the participle.

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

The past anterior is mostly (formal/literary); its periphrastic counterpart is vaig haver dit, vas haver dit, va haver dit, vam haver dit, vau haver dit, van haver dit. Ordinary speech generally uses havia dit for an earlier statement.

Ja us he dit que podeu deixar els abrics a l'habitació del fons.

I've already told you that you can leave your coats in the back room.

Sense llegir l'informe, no hauria dit que el projecte era inviable.

Without reading the report, I wouldn't have said that the project was unfeasible.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	digui	diguis	digui	diguem	digueu	diguin
Imperfect	digués	diguessis	digués	diguéssim	diguéssiu	diguessin
Present perfect	hagi dit	hagis dit	hagi dit	hàgim dit	hàgiu dit	hagin dit
Pluperfect	hagués dit	haguessis dit	hagués dit	haguéssim dit	haguéssiu dit	haguessin dit

Both simple subjunctives use velar digu-. This stem also appears in formal commands. English “I want you to tell me” uses an infinitive after an object; Catalan normally uses an indirect object plus que and a finite subjunctive: Vull que em diguis....

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

The last two rows have restricted (regional/formal) distribution and are not necessary for normal conversation.

Necessito que em diguis exactament què va passar a la sortida.

I need you to tell me exactly what happened at the exit.

Si ho diguéssim ara, potser evitaríem més rumors.

If we said it now, perhaps we would prevent more rumors.

Imperative and weak-pronoun clusters

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	digues	no diguis
vostè	digui	no digui
nosaltres	diguem	no diguem
vosaltres	digueu	no digueu
vostès	diguin	no diguin

Affirmative commands attach pronouns: digues-ho, digues-li, digues-m'ho. Negative commands move the cluster before the verb and use the present subjunctive: no ho diguis, no li ho digueu, no m'ho diguis. In (informal) speech, final -s commonly drops before an attached pronoun: digue'm beside the more transparent digues-me.

—Digues-me si et quedes a sopar. —Sí, però no ho diguis encara als nens.

—Tell me whether you're staying for dinner. —Yes, but don't tell the children yet.

Saying, telling, naming, and meaning

With content alone, use dir una cosa: ha dit la veritat. A recipient is indirect and takes a or the clitic li/els: dir la veritat a la directora; dir-li la veritat. English “tell the director” hides this distinction, but Catalan grammar does not.

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Map the roles before choosing pronouns: the message is direct (ho), while the hearer is indirect (li/els). That gives transparent combinations such as li ho diré.

Diré a la directora que la sala ja està preparada.

I'll tell the director that the room is ready.

The neutral pronominal construction dir-se gives a name: em dic, et dius, es diu, ens diem, us dieu, es diuen. The pronoun is part of this meaning; plain dic Marta means “I say ‘Marta,’” not “my name is Marta.” Reciprocal dir-se coses likewise keeps its pronoun.

Em dic Aina, però tothom a la feina em diu Nina.

My name is Aina, but everyone at work calls me Nina.

Voler dir means “to mean,” while és a dir reformulates an idea. The partitive pronoun en appears in Què en dius? “What do you think/say about it?” and ho replaces a proposition in ja t'ho diré. These are ordinary weak-pronoun patterns, not extra conjugations.

Quan diu que el termini és improrrogable, vol dir que no acceptaran cap sol·licitud tardana.

When she says the deadline cannot be extended, she means they won't accept any late application.

(Regional: Valencian) present subjunctive commonly has diga, digues, diga, diguem, digueu, diguen, with imperfect diguera.... Familiar imperative dis also occurs in Valencian and parts of the northwest (regional), especially in dis-me and dis-m'ho. General digues is understood throughout and remains the teaching baseline.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jo direixo sempre el que penso.

Incorrect—dir is not incoative; its first-person present is dic.

✅ Jo dic sempre el que penso.

I always say what I think.

❌ Vaig dir la secretària que tornaria demà.

Incorrect—the person told is an indirect recipient introduced by a or represented by li.

✅ Vaig dir a la secretària que tornaria demà.

I told the secretary that I would return tomorrow.

❌ Vull que em dius la veritat ara mateix.

Incorrect—the requested statement requires present subjunctive diguis.

✅ Vull que em diguis la veritat ara mateix.

I want you to tell me the truth right now.

❌ No digues-m'ho davant de tothom.

Incorrect—negative commands put pronouns before the verb and use diguis.

✅ No m'ho diguis davant de tothom.

Don't tell me in front of everyone.

❌ Dic Clara i visc a Manresa.

Incorrect for giving one's name—the naming construction is pronominal dir-se.

✅ Em dic Clara i visc a Manresa.

My name is Clara, and I live in Manresa.

Key Takeaways

Keep dic, deia, digué, diré, digui, digues, and dit together as principal parts. Catalan tells something to someone, so the recipient is indirect. Attach pronouns in positive digues-m'ho but place them before negative no m'ho diguis. Preserve the pronoun in naming dir-se, and recognize voler dir, és a dir, and què en dius? as high-frequency constructions.

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