Dire ("to say / to tell") is one of the most frequent verbs in spoken French and the workhorse of reported speech, conversational quoting, and dozens of fixed expressions (c'est-à-dire, vouloir dire, dis donc, à vrai dire). It is also one of the small handful of verbs whose vous form breaks the universal -ez rule and ends in -tes instead — joining only vous êtes and vous faites in this club. That single form, vous dites, is the most error-prone aspect of the verb, and getting it right is a quick test of whether someone has learned the language as a careful student or absorbed it through sloppy guessing.
This page covers the full present paradigm with phonetic detail, walks through the major uses of dire, examines the prédire / interdire / contredire / médire compounds (which surprisingly do not preserve the -tes form), and clarifies the three-way distinction between dire (say), parler (speak/talk), and raconter (tell a story).
The full paradigm
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | dis | /ʒə di/ | I say / tell |
| tu | dis | /ty di/ | you say / tell (informal) |
| il / elle / on | dit | /il di / ɛl di / ɔ̃ di/ | he/she/one says |
| nous | disons | /nu dizɔ̃/ | we say |
| vous | dites | /vu dit/ | you say (formal or plural) |
| ils / elles | disent | /il diz / ɛl diz/ | they say |
Two features stand out and need to be memorized cold:
- Vous dites — the rare -tes ending. Almost every verb in French ends its vous form in -ez: vous parlez, vous finissez, vous prenez, vous voyez. Only three verbs in the entire language break this rule by ending the vous form in -tes: vous êtes, vous faites, and vous dites. Saying vous disez is the single most common mistake learners make with this verb, and it instantly marks the speaker as a beginner. Memorize the trio: êtes, faites, dites.
- The /i/ ↔ /iz/ alternation. The singular and 3pl forms (dis, dit, disent) all share /di/ as their core pronunciation, with the 3pl adding a final /z/ from the -ent spelling. The 1pl and 2pl insert an audible /z/ before the ending: /dizɔ̃/, but vous dites is /dit/ — the s is silent here, blocked by the -tes ending.
Je te dis que c'est une bonne idée — fais-moi confiance.
I'm telling you it's a good idea — trust me.
Qu'est-ce que tu dis ? Je t'ai pas entendu.
What did you say? I didn't hear you.
On dit que le restaurant a fermé la semaine dernière.
They say the restaurant closed last week.
Vous dites n'importe quoi, ce n'est pas du tout ce qu'il a écrit.
You're talking nonsense — that's not at all what he wrote.
The /i/ ↔ /iz/ stem alternation
Dire shows the standard French pattern where a stem-final consonant is silent in the singular but pronounced in the plural — an audible signal of person and number that survives despite the silent -s and -t endings.
- Singular and 3pl: spelled di- (with silent ending or silent -ent), pronounced /di/ in dis/dit, /diz/ in disent (the s of the -ent group is realized as /z/).
- 1pl and 2pl: spelled dis-, with the s pronounced as /z/ before a vowel: /dizɔ̃/, but vous dites is /dit/ — the -tes ending neutralizes the /z/.
The 3pl ils disent /il diz/ is not a homophone of any singular form, which is unusual — most French verbs have audible homophony among the singular forms and the 3pl. Dire breaks the pattern because the 3pl -ent triggers the /z/ that the singular silent endings do not.
Mes parents disent toujours qu'il faut épargner pour l'avenir.
My parents always say you have to save for the future.
Nous disons la même chose, mais avec des mots différents.
We're saying the same thing, just in different words.
Use 1: Saying — direct and reported speech
The core meaning of dire is to express something verbally. It takes a direct object (the words said) and an optional indirect object with à (the person addressed):
Elle m'a dit la vérité, finalement.
She told me the truth, in the end.
Dis quelque chose, ne reste pas silencieux comme ça.
Say something — don't just stay silent like that.
For reported speech (saying what someone said), dire takes a que-clause:
Il dit qu'il viendra demain matin avant huit heures.
He says he'll come tomorrow morning before eight.
Le journal dit que la grève va continuer toute la semaine.
The newspaper says the strike will continue all week.
Marie dit qu'elle ne peut pas venir ce soir, elle est malade.
Marie says she can't come tonight — she's sick.
When the main verb shifts to a past tense, the que-clause normally shifts in tense as well (il a dit qu'il *viendrait demain* — "he said he would come tomorrow"). For the full mechanics of tense backshift in indirect discourse, see Reported Speech.
Use 2: Telling — addressing someone with information
When you tell someone something — give them a piece of information, an instruction, a warning — dire takes the indirect-object person and the direct-object content:
Dis-moi ton numéro de téléphone, je l'ajoute dans mes contacts.
Tell me your phone number — I'll add it to my contacts.
Je te dis ça parce que tu es mon ami.
I'm telling you this because you're my friend.
Elle nous a dit de ne pas attendre, de partir devant.
She told us not to wait — to go on ahead.
The construction dire à quelqu'un de + infinitif ("tell someone to do something") is the standard way to report a command or instruction. Note that French requires de before the infinitive — not à, not bare:
Le médecin m'a dit de boire beaucoup d'eau.
The doctor told me to drink a lot of water.
Use 3: Vouloir dire — to mean
The fixed expression vouloir dire is the standard French way to express to mean — used for words, signs, gestures, and deliberate intentions:
Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, ce panneau ?
What does this sign mean?
Je voulais dire que j'étais désolé, mais les mots ne sortaient pas.
I wanted to say I was sorry, but the words wouldn't come out.
« Bonjour », ça veut dire 'good morning' en anglais.
'Bonjour' means 'good morning' in English.
This is not interchangeable with signifier (which is more formal and usually reserved for symbolic or technical meaning) or with moyen (which is a noun, not a verb). Vouloir dire is by far the most common construction in everyday speech — and a place where English speakers often try to say signifier unnecessarily.
The impératif — commands
The imperative of dire is high-frequency and worth memorizing as a separate unit:
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
| dis | say! / tell! (informal singular) |
| disons | let's say |
| dites | say! / tell! (formal or plural) |
Note that dites in the imperative is identical to the vous form of the indicative — same -tes ending, same pronunciation /dit/.
Dis-moi la vérité, je ne me fâcherai pas.
Tell me the truth — I won't get angry.
Dites-moi quand vous serez prêts à commander.
Tell me when you're ready to order.
Disons que tu as raison — qu'est-ce qu'on fait maintenant ?
Let's say you're right — what do we do now?
The disons form is common in concessive reasoning ("let's just say...") even outside genuine imperatives.
Idiomatic expressions — what learners hear daily
Dire generates a remarkable density of high-frequency idioms. These are not optional — they appear constantly in everyday French.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| c'est-à-dire | that is to say / in other words |
| à vrai dire | to tell the truth / actually |
| dis donc ! | wow! / hey! (mild exclamation) |
| on dirait que... | it seems / it looks like |
| vouloir dire | to mean |
| cela ne me dit rien | that doesn't appeal to me / I don't feel like it |
| ça te dit ? | do you feel like it? / are you up for it? |
| pour ainsi dire | so to speak |
| autrement dit | in other words |
| n'en parlons plus / n'en disons plus | let's say no more about it |
| sans dire un mot | without saying a word |
Le train arrive à treize heures, c'est-à-dire à une heure de l'après-midi.
The train arrives at thirteen hours — that is to say, at one in the afternoon.
À vrai dire, je n'ai jamais aimé ce film, mais tout le monde en parlait.
To tell the truth, I never liked that film, but everyone was talking about it.
Dis donc, tu as drôlement changé depuis la dernière fois !
Wow, you've really changed since last time!
On dirait qu'il va pleuvoir, regarde le ciel.
It looks like it's going to rain — look at the sky.
Ça te dit d'aller au cinéma ce soir ?
Feel like going to the movies tonight?
The expression on dirait que + indicative ("it looks like / it seems") is one of the most useful ways in French to make a guarded observation — and a structure with no clean English equivalent. Literally "one would say that," it floats between observation and inference.
The compound verbs — and the surprise reversal
A family of verbs prefixes dire: prédire (predict), interdire (forbid), contredire (contradict), médire (slander), maudire (curse). They all share dire's singular and nous/3pl forms — but they break ranks on the vous form.
| Verb | vous form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| dire | vous dites | /vu dit/ |
| redire | vous redites | /vu ʁədit/ |
| prédire | vous prédisez | /vu pʁedize/ |
| interdire | vous interdisez | /vu‿zɛ̃tɛʁdize/ |
| contredire | vous contredisez | /vu kɔ̃tʁədize/ |
| médire | vous médisez | /vu medize/ |
| maudire | vous maudissez | /vu modise/ |
This is genuinely arbitrary. The simple dire and its closest derivative redire (re-say, repeat) keep the irregular -tes form. Every other prefix-and-stem compound — prédire, interdire, contredire, médire — switches to a regular -isez ending. Maudire is even further from the family, conjugating like a 2nd-group -ir verb (maudis, maudissons, maudissez).
There is no logical shortcut. You must memorize:
- Dire and redire: vous dites, vous redites.
- Prédire, interdire, contredire, médire: regular vous prédisez, vous interdisez, etc.
- Maudire: 2nd-group regular: vous maudissez.
Vous prédisez la pluie pour ce week-end ?
Are you predicting rain for this weekend?
Vous interdisez vraiment l'accès à cette salle ?
Are you really forbidding access to this room?
Vous médisez sans cesse de vos collègues, ce n'est pas correct.
You're constantly speaking ill of your colleagues — it's not right.
Dire vs parler vs raconter — three different "tells"
English uses say and tell almost interchangeably and adds speak as a near-synonym for talk. French splits the territory three ways, and each verb has a distinct grammatical profile:
| Verb | What it does | Object structure |
|---|---|---|
| dire | say (specific words or content) | Direct object + à person; takes que-clause |
| parler | speak / talk (general activity, languages) | Intransitive; parler à (talk to), parler de (talk about) |
| raconter | tell (a story, a narrative) | Direct object (story) + à person |
The clearest way to feel the distinction:
- Dis-moi ton nom. — Tell me your name. (Specific information, dire.)
- Parle-moi. — Talk to me. / Speak to me. (General activity, parler.)
- Raconte-moi une histoire. — Tell me a story. (Narrative, raconter.)
Mon grand-père me racontait des histoires de la guerre tous les soirs.
My grandfather used to tell me war stories every night.
Je parle français et un peu d'espagnol.
I speak French and a little Spanish.
Elle m'a dit qu'elle allait déménager à Lyon.
She told me she was going to move to Lyon.
A common English-speaker error is to use dire with a story: /dis-moi une histoire is wrong. Stories are racontées, not dites. Conversely, you cannot raconter a phone number — that's specific information, so dire is required. For the full treatment, see Dire vs Parler vs Raconter.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Saying vous disez instead of vous dites.
❌ Vous disez la vérité ?
Incorrect — dire is one of three verbs (with être and faire) whose vous form ends in -tes, not -ez.
✅ Vous dites la vérité ?
Are you telling the truth?
This is far and away the most common mistake with dire. Memorize the trio êtes, faites, dites as a unit.
Mistake 2: Applying the -tes rule to compounds.
❌ Vous prédites le résultat du match ?
Incorrect — only dire and redire keep -tes; prédire follows the regular pattern.
✅ Vous prédisez le résultat du match ?
Are you predicting the result of the match?
The reverse problem: once learners master vous dites, they sometimes overgeneralize and apply -tes to every compound. Only dire and redire take -tes; everything else is regular.
Mistake 3: Using dire for stories.
❌ Dis-moi une histoire avant de dormir.
Incorrect — stories are told with raconter, not dire.
✅ Raconte-moi une histoire avant de dormir.
Tell me a story before bed.
Mistake 4: Using dire à + infinitive without de.
❌ Le médecin m'a dit boire de l'eau.
Incorrect — dire à quelqu'un de + infinitif requires de before the infinitive.
✅ Le médecin m'a dit de boire de l'eau.
The doctor told me to drink water.
Mistake 5: Using signifier where vouloir dire is more natural.
❌ Qu'est-ce que ça signifie, ce mot ?
Grammatically correct but stilted — French speakers say vouloir dire in everyday conversation.
✅ Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, ce mot ?
What does this word mean?
Signifier is fine in formal or technical contexts (academic writing, dictionaries) but sounds bookish in casual conversation. Vouloir dire is the everyday default.
Mistake 6: Confusing dire que with parler de.
❌ Il a dit de son voyage à Rome.
Incorrect — to talk about something is parler de, not dire de.
✅ Il a parlé de son voyage à Rome.
He talked about his trip to Rome.
Use dire with que + clause (specific content) and parler with de + topic (general subject of discussion).
Key takeaways
Dire is one of those verbs that you cannot avoid for more than a sentence or two of French — it powers reported speech, instructions, and a vast set of fixed expressions. Three points to internalize:
- Vous dites is irregular. It belongs to the closed trio êtes, faites, dites — the only three verbs in modern French whose vous form ends in -tes. Saying vous disez is the canonical beginner mistake.
- The compound family splits. Redire keeps the irregular -tes form. Prédire, interdire, contredire, médire take regular -isez. Maudire conjugates like a 2nd-group verb. Memorize the three patterns separately.
- Three "tells" in French. Dire (say specific content), parler (speak/talk, general activity), raconter (tell a story). The English speaker's habit of mapping all three to one verb produces consistent errors — drill the distinction with stories (raconter), languages (parler), and information (dire).
Once dire is solid, study savoir and connaître for the cognition family — what someone says (dire) is often something they know (savoir), and the two verbs work together in indirect discourse: je sais qu'elle dit la vérité.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Le Présent: Être (to be)A1 — The full conjugation, register, and idiomatic range of être — French's most important verb, the copula for identity and state, and the auxiliary for the maison d'être verbs.
- Le Présent: Faire (to do, to make)A1 — The full conjugation of faire — including the famous /fəzɔ̃/ pronunciation of nous faisons and the unusual -tes ending of vous faites — together with the dozens of fixed expressions that make faire one of the four or five highest-frequency verbs in spoken French.
- Le Présent: Savoir (to know)A1 — The full paradigm of savoir, the French verb for knowing facts, knowing how to do something, and possessing information — and the crucial line that separates it from connaître.
- Dire vs Parler vs Raconter: The Three Communication VerbsA2 — Three French verbs cover what English splits across say, tell, talk, speak, and narrate. Master the rules: dire for utterances with à + person, parler for engaging in conversation, raconter for narrating a story or account.
- Dire: Full Verb ReferenceA1 — Dire is to say, to tell — and the verb behind reported speech, vouloir dire (to mean), and the elegant on dirait (one would say). Its conjugation contains the famous irregular vous dites — one of only three French verbs with a vous form ending in -tes. This page is the full reference: every paradigm, every compound tense, the core uses, and the idioms.
- Le Présent: Lire et ÉcrireA1 — Conjugation and use of lire (to read) and écrire (to write) — paired literacy verbs with similar but not identical patterns, the productive écrire-family of compounds (décrire, prescrire, s'inscrire), and the indirect-object construction écrire à quelqu'un.