Dire is the verb to say and to tell. It is one of the high-frequency -re irregulars and a daily-life essential — you cannot get through a conversation without it. Dire powers French reported speech (il dit que… — he says that…), the meaning idiom vouloir dire (literally "to want to say" — to mean), the conjectural on dirait que (one would say / it looks like), and a long list of fixed expressions (dire la vérité, à vrai dire, dis donc !).
It is also one of three French verbs with the famous irregular vous form ending in -tes: vous êtes, vous faites, vous dites. The other irregular detail is the closely related re- family (redire, contredire, prédire) which mostly conjugates the same way except — confusingly — that the vous form reverts to the regular -ez ending: vous redisez, vous contredisez. Only dire itself takes vous dites.
This page is the verb-reference entry: every paradigm, every compound tense, the major uses with examples, and the idioms. Use it as a lookup. The detail pages cover individual topics in depth.
The simple tenses
These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary — the basic conjugational paradigms. Dire is irregular but mostly predictable: it splits between two stems (di- in the singular present, dis- throughout the plural), with surprising forms only at vous dites (the famous -tes) and the futur stem.
Présent de l'indicatif
The present indicative. The standout form is vous dites — without it, the whole paradigm would be a textbook 3rd-group regular.
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| je | dis | /di/ |
| tu | dis | /di/ |
| il / elle / on | dit | /di/ |
| nous | disons | /dizɔ̃/ |
| vous | dites | /dit/ |
| ils / elles | disent | /diz/ |
The famous trap: vous dites, not vous disez. Dire is one of only three French verbs with this irregular vous ending in -tes: vous êtes (être), vous faites (faire), and vous dites (dire). All three are extremely high-frequency, and the irregularity must be memorized — there is no productive rule that predicts it.
Important warning about the -dire family: contredire, prédire, interdire, and médire are derivatives of dire but their vous form is regular: vous contredisez, vous prédisez, vous interdisez, vous médisez. Only dire itself and redire keep the irregular -tes form: vous redites. Lots of native speakers actually slip up on this and say vous contredites — but the prescriptive standard distinguishes them.
Qu'est-ce que tu dis ? Je n'ai pas entendu.
What did you say? I didn't hear.
Vous dites souvent ce genre de choses ?
Do you often say things like that?
Ils disent que le train est en retard.
They say the train is delayed.
Imparfait
Built on the stem dis- (from nous disons) plus the regular imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | disais |
| tu | disais |
| il / elle / on | disait |
| nous | disions |
| vous | disiez |
| ils / elles | disaient |
Mes grands-parents disaient toujours qu'il faut profiter du moment.
My grandparents always used to say you should make the most of the moment.
Tu disais quoi, juste avant qu'on soit interrompus ?
What were you saying, just before we got interrupted?
Passé simple (literary)
Stem di-. The endings follow the standard -i- pattern of irregular verbs (je dis, tu dis, il dit, nous dîmes, vous dîtes, ils dirent). Note that the singular forms are spelled identically to the present, but context disambiguates.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | dis |
| tu | dis |
| il / elle / on | dit |
| nous | dîmes |
| vous | dîtes |
| ils / elles | dirent |
The circumflex on dîmes and dîtes is obligatory and historically marks a lost -s-. Without it, dîtes would be ambiguous with dites (the indicative-present vous form).
Il dit alors qu'il ne voulait plus rien savoir de cette histoire.
He then said that he no longer wanted to know anything about that story. (literary)
Nous dîmes au revoir et partîmes sans demander notre reste.
We said goodbye and left without asking for the rest. (literary)
Futur simple
Stem dir-. Endings are the regular futur endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | dirai |
| tu | diras |
| il / elle / on | dira |
| nous | dirons |
| vous | direz |
| ils / elles | diront |
The futur stem dir- coincides with the infinitive dire, which makes the futur of dire unusually easy to remember.
Je te dirai tout demain matin.
I'll tell you everything tomorrow morning.
Qui sait ce qu'on dira de nous dans cent ans.
Who knows what they'll say about us in a hundred years.
Conditionnel présent
Same dir- stem as the futur, with the imparfait endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| je | dirais |
| tu | dirais |
| il / elle / on | dirait |
| nous | dirions |
| vous | diriez |
| ils / elles | diraient |
Si j'étais à ta place, je ne dirais rien.
If I were you, I wouldn't say anything.
On dirait qu'il va pleuvoir.
It looks like it's going to rain.
The 3sg conditional on dirait is itself one of the most-used French idioms — see the idiom section below.
Subjonctif présent
Stem dis- (from nous disons). Fully regular within the subjunctive paradigm.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (que) je | dise |
| (que) tu | dises |
| (qu')il / elle / on | dise |
| (que) nous | disions |
| (que) vous | disiez |
| (qu')ils / elles | disent |
Note that 1pl disions and 2pl disiez are identical to the imparfait — context disambiguates.
Il faut que tu lui dises la vérité.
You have to tell him the truth.
Je ne crois pas qu'il dise toujours ce qu'il pense.
I don't think he always says what he thinks.
Impératif
Three forms, taken from the indicative present. Note that the vous form is the famous irregular dites.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (tu) | dis |
| (nous) | disons |
| (vous) | dites |
Dis-moi la vérité, je préfère savoir.
Tell me the truth, I'd rather know.
Dites-lui que je le rappellerai en fin d'après-midi.
Tell him I'll call him back at the end of the afternoon.
Disons que c'était une journée compliquée.
Let's just say it was a complicated day.
The expression dis donc (informal, tu-form) and dites donc (informal/formal, vous-form) is a frequent attention-getter, often translated as "hey," "wow," or "hold on."
Participles and gérondif
- Participe passé: dit (agrees with preceding direct object when avoir is auxiliary)
- Participe présent: disant
- Gérondif: en disant
En disant cela, elle a quitté la pièce.
With those words, she left the room.
Disant qu'il était fatigué, il est monté se coucher.
Saying he was tired, he went up to bed.
The participle dit is famously short — three letters covering one of the most-used verbs in the language. Agreement: les choses qu'il a dites (feminine plural — dites agrees with the preceding direct object les choses).
The compound tenses
Dire uses avoir as its auxiliary in compound tenses.
Passé composé
avoir (présent) + dit
| Person | Form | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| j' | ai dit | I said / I've said |
| tu | as dit | you said |
| il / elle / on | a dit | he/she/we said |
| nous | avons dit | we said |
| vous | avez dit | you said |
| ils / elles | ont dit | they said |
Je t'ai dit cent fois de fermer la porte à clé.
I've told you a hundred times to lock the door.
Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit, exactement ?
What did he say, exactly?
Plus-que-parfait
avoir (imparfait) + dit
J'avais dit non, mais elle a insisté.
I'd said no, but she insisted.
Futur antérieur
avoir (futur) + dit
Quand tu rentreras, je leur aurai déjà dit la nouvelle.
When you get back, I'll have already told them the news.
Conditionnel passé
avoir (conditionnel) + dit
J'aurais dû te le dire plus tôt, je suis désolé.
I should have told you sooner, I'm sorry.
Subjonctif passé
avoir (subjonctif) + dit
Je suis désolé qu'il t'ait dit ça, c'était maladroit.
I'm sorry he said that to you, it was clumsy.
The four core uses
1. Saying / telling: literal speech reporting
Dire covers both English say and tell. French does not distinguish them — dire takes both a direct object (what is said) and an indirect object (whom it is said to, with à).
J'ai dit bonjour à la voisine ce matin.
I said hello to the neighbor this morning.
Dis-moi ton nom et ton prénom, s'il te plaît.
Tell me your last name and first name, please.
Elle ne dit jamais ce qu'elle pense vraiment.
She never says what she really thinks.
The structure dire quelque chose à quelqu'un is rigid: the thing said is the direct object, the addressee is the indirect object with à. Je le dis à mon père (I tell it to my father) — pronominalize the direct object with le and the indirect object with lui (je le lui dis).
2. Reported speech: dire que + indicative
Dire que + indicative is the foundation of indirect/reported speech in French. The verb in the subordinate clause stays in the indicative — the subjunctive is used only with negation or interrogation that questions the assertion.
Il dit qu'il ne peut pas venir ce soir.
He says he can't come tonight.
Elle a dit qu'elle nous rappellerait demain.
She said she'd call us back tomorrow.
Le journal dit que la grève va continuer.
The newspaper says the strike will continue.
When the main verb (dire) is in a past tense, the embedded clause shifts tense (dire que… peut → a dit que… pouvait) following the rule of concordance des temps. This rule is treated in detail on the reported speech page.
3. Vouloir dire: to mean
Vouloir dire — literally "to want to say" — is the standard way to express "to mean" in French. It is treated as a unit (vouloir + dire) rather than two separate verbs.
Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, ce mot ?
What does this word mean?
Tu veux dire qu'il a démissionné ?
Do you mean he resigned?
Je voulais dire 'mardi', pas 'jeudi', pardon.
I meant to say 'Tuesday,' not 'Thursday,' sorry.
There is also a verb signifier, but it is more formal and less frequent. In conversation, vouloir dire is the natural choice — and the vouloir part of the construction is what's conjugated, while dire stays as an infinitive.
4. On dirait: it looks like / one would say
The 3sg conditional on dirait is one of the most useful idioms in French. It expresses an impression, an inference, or a surface resemblance — equivalent to English "it looks like," "you'd think," "it sounds like," or "it seems like."
On dirait qu'il va neiger.
It looks like it's going to snow.
On dirait ta mère quand tu fais cette tête.
You look like your mother when you make that face.
On dirait du Mozart, mais ce n'est pas lui.
It sounds like Mozart, but it isn't him.
The construction is rigid: on dirait + clause (with que) or + noun (no preposition). It is a conditional but always translates as a present-tense impression in English. On dirait is informal-to-neutral register; in formal writing, you would more likely use il semble que or on pourrait croire que.
High-frequency dire idioms
- à vrai dire / à dire vrai — to tell the truth, frankly
- dire la vérité — to tell the truth
- dire des bêtises / des conneries — to talk nonsense (the second is vulgar)
- c'est-à-dire — that is to say, i.e.
- dis donc / dites donc ! — wow / hey / hold on
- cela dit / ceci dit — that said
- autrement dit — in other words
- dit-on (literary inversion) — they say, it is said
- dire amen à tout — to agree to everything
- à qui le dis-tu ! — you're telling me!
- sans dire un mot — without saying a word
- se dire — to say to oneself / be said (passive)
À vrai dire, je n'en sais rien.
To tell the truth, I have no idea.
Cela dit, on peut toujours essayer.
That said, we can always try.
Comment ça se dit en français ?
How do you say that in French?
Dis donc, tu as vu l'heure ?
Hey, have you seen what time it is?
The reflexive se dire deserves special attention — it has two meanings. With a direct object, it means "to say to oneself" (je me dis que c'est mieux ainsi — I tell myself it's better this way). With a passive sense, it means "to be said" (ça ne se dit pas — that's not said / one doesn't say that).
Comparison with English
Three friction points:
- One verb for say and tell. English makes a syntactic distinction: say takes only what is said (I said hello), while tell often takes a direct object person (I told her). French uses dire for both, with the addressee always introduced by à: je lui ai dit bonjour (I said hello to her / I told her hello).
- Vous dites is irregular. Vous dites, not vous disez. This is one of three French verbs with the -tes ending (vous êtes, vous faites, vous dites). All three must be memorized.
- On dirait has no clean English equivalent. It conveys an impression or inference — "it looks like / you'd think / one would say." English speakers tend to over-use il me semble que (it seems to me); the more idiomatic register-neutral choice is on dirait que.
The dire que + indicative reported-speech pattern lines up with English say that — including the tense-shift rule under a past main clause.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Saying vous disez instead of vous dites.
❌ Vous disez quoi ?
Wrong — vous form of dire is irregular: dites.
✅ Vous dites quoi ?
What are you saying?
Mistake 2: Confusing dire with parler and raconter.
❌ Dis-moi une histoire.
Wrong for telling a story — use raconter, not dire.
✅ Raconte-moi une histoire.
Tell me a story.
❌ Je dis français.
Wrong — for speaking a language, use parler, not dire.
✅ Je parle français.
I speak French.
Mistake 3: Forgetting à before the indirect object.
❌ J'ai dit bonjour la voisine.
Wrong — the addressee takes à: dire quelque chose à quelqu'un.
✅ J'ai dit bonjour à la voisine.
I said hello to the neighbor.
Mistake 4: Using a separate verb for "to mean."
❌ Qu'est-ce que ça signifie ce mot ?
Stilted — vouloir dire is the natural choice in conversation.
✅ Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, ce mot ?
What does this word mean?
Mistake 5: Translating on dirait literally.
❌ One would say it's going to rain.
Awkward English — translate on dirait as 'it looks like' or 'it seems'.
✅ On dirait qu'il va pleuvoir. → It looks like it's going to rain.
Idiomatic translation.
Key takeaways
Dire is the verb to say and to tell — and the engine of French reported speech. Its conjugation contains the famous irregular vous dites (one of three French verbs with this -tes ending, alongside vous êtes and vous faites).
The simple-tense paradigms split between two stems: di- (singular present, passé simple) and dis- (plural present, imparfait, subjunctive, present participle). The futur and conditionnel use the stem dir-, identical to the infinitive.
In compound tenses, dire takes avoir: j'ai dit, j'avais dit, j'aurai dit. Three idiomatic uses are essential: vouloir dire (to mean — qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ?), on dirait (it looks like — on dirait qu'il va pleuvoir), and dire que + indicative for reported speech (il dit qu'il vient).
Memorize the paradigms cold; reread the idiom list; use the page as a lookup. Dire is one of the verbs you will use in nearly every conversation — and getting vous dites right is a small but reliable test of grammatical fluency.
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