Dizer (To Say) — Full Conjugation

Dizer means to say or to tell, and it is one of the most frequent verbs in Portuguese — used every time you report speech, ask for someone's name, quote a proverb, or state an opinion. It is also one of the most irregular. Its preterite is strong (disse, not dizi); its future and conditional use a contracted stem (dir-, not dizer-); its past participle is dito (not dizido); its present tu form is dizes, but the first person drops to digo. None of this follows the -er template.

The good news is that dizer belongs to a small family of verbs (fazer, trazer, dizer, and their compounds) that share the same irregularities. Learn dizer well and you have a head start on the whole group. This page gives you every form, organized tense by tense, plus a detailed guide to its syntax: dizer que, dizer a alguém, querer dizer, and the classical mesoclise (dir-lhe-ei) you'll meet in formal writing.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Note the 1sg digo with -g- — a vestige of the Latin stem dīcō. The other forms use the diz- stem.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

The imperfect is regular on the diz- stem.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Dizer has a strong preterite: stress falls on the stem (not the ending) in the 1sg and 3sg, and the stem itself changes to diss-. This is the same pattern as fazer (fiz) and trazer (trouxe) — compare disse / fez / trouxe.

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

A literary synthetic form, built on the preterite stem diss-.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

The everyday way to say had said. Formed with the imperfect of ter plus the irregular participle dito.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Here the contracted stem appears: dir-, not dizer-. The same contraction happens in fazer → far- and trazer → trar-. These are the only three verbs in the language with this irregularity.

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Same contracted dir- stem as the future.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built on the dig- stem (from 1sg digo). This is the general rule for the present subjunctive in Portuguese: take the 1sg indicative, drop the -o, add subjunctive endings.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Built on the preterite diss- stem — another reliable pattern: the imperfect subjunctive always derives from the 3pl preterite.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Also built on the diss- stem. Very common after se, quando, como, enquanto when the clause refers to future possibility.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The tu affirmative is the short form diz (not dize) — a characteristic of irregular verbs with short 3sg indicatives (compare faz, põe, vem).

Affirmative:

Negative (present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Built on dizer-, regularly inflected.

Note that the personal infinitive dizer / dizeres / … and the future subjunctive disser / disseres / … are different for dizer (because it is irregular), unlike for regular verbs where they coincide.

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Mesoclise — a classical form you'll meet in writing

When dizer is conjugated in the simple future or conditional and a clitic pronoun (me, te, se, o, a, lhe, nos, lhes) is attached, formal written European Portuguese uses mesoclise: the pronoun is inserted inside the verb, between the stem and the ending.

In everyday speech and informal writing, speakers either rephrase (vou dizer-lhe, hei-de dizer-lhe) or use the proclitic placement after a trigger word (eu já lhe direi). You need to recognize mesoclise when reading newspapers, legal texts, and older literature; you don't have to produce it yourself.

Usage notes: the syntax of dizer

Dizer que + clause — reported speech

The most frequent pattern. After dizer que, use indicative for assertions.

After negative não dizer que expressing doubt or denial, the subjunctive can appear, but simple reported speech takes indicative.

Dizer a alguém — the listener is introduced with a

When you specify the person being told, use the preposition a or an indirect-object clitic (me, te, lhe, nos, lhes).

Dizer que sim / dizer que não — to say yes / to say no

A fixed pattern with no direct object.

Querer dizer — to mean

Dizer o nome — state one's name (idiomatic)

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Dizer is one of the most irregular verbs in Portuguese. Memorize its three stems: diz-/dig- (present, imperfect, present subjunctive), diss- (preterite, imperfect subjunctive, future subjunctive), and contracted dir- (future, conditional).
• The past participle is dito — there is no regular dizido.
• The tu imperative is the short diz (not dize).
• In formal writing, clitics attach inside the future/conditional: dir-lhe-ei (I will tell him). Learn to recognize this pattern; you don't need to produce it in speech.
• The listener is introduced with a (or an indirect clitic me/te/lhe/nos/lhes), not with para: disse ao João, disse-lhe.
• Dizer que + indicative for reported assertions; querer dizer for "to mean."