Decir means to say and to tell — Spanish does not distinguish the two the way English does (say without a person, tell with one); decir covers both, and the listener appears as an indirect object: te lo digo (I'm telling you), me lo dijo (he told me). It is one of the four or five most irregular verbs in Spanish, alongside ser, ir, haber, and hacer. The point is not that decir is unpredictable — most of its irregularities are shared with other verbs — but that every single tense is irregular in some way. There is no resting moment where it behaves like a normal -ir verb.
Six distinct irregularities pile up in this one verb:
- Yo-go present (digo) — same pattern as tengo, salgo, pongo, hago, vengo.
- e → i stem change in the present (dices, dice, dicen) — same pattern as pedir, servir, repetir.
- j-stem strong preterite (dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron) — same family as traer (traje), conducir (conduje), traducir (traduje). Critical: 3rd-plural is dijeron, never dijieron.
- Dropped-vowel future and conditional (diré, diría) — same as haré, sabré, querré, podré, pondré, vendré, tendré, saldré.
- Irregular past participle (dicho) — same family as hecho, escrito, abierto, visto, vuelto, puesto, roto.
- Short tú imperative (di) — same family as the eight short imperatives di, haz, ve, pon, sal, ten, ven, sé.
If you learn decir well, you have a working command of half the irregular verb system. Everything in it transfers somewhere else.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | decir | to say, to tell |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber dicho | to have said |
| Gerundio | diciendo | saying |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo dicho | having said |
| Participio | dicho | said |
The gerundio diciendo uses the stem-changed dic- (e→i, regular for -ir stem-changers in the gerund). The participio dicho is irregular — drop the -ir, replace with -cho — and is what you see across all compound tenses.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| digo | dices | dice | decimos | decís | dicen |
Two things at once. The yo is digo (yo-go pattern). The stem changes e → i in every form except nosotros and vosotros, which keep the bare dec- stem: decimos, decís. This is the so-called boot pattern — the stem change forms a boot shape around the four affected persons. The peninsular decís is the form you'll hear all the time in Spain ("¿qué decís?" — "what are you guys saying?") and is the only present-tense form that takes an orthographic accent.
¿Qué decís vosotros del nuevo entrenador? A mí no me convence.
What do you guys think of the new coach? He doesn't convince me.
Yo digo lo que pienso, aunque a veces meta la pata.
I say what I think, even if I put my foot in it sometimes.
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dije | dijiste | dijo | dijimos | dijisteis | dijeron |
This is a strong preterite with a j-stem: the stress falls on the stem (dí-je, dí-jo), not on the ending, so unlike regular preterites there are no accents on the yo or él forms. The 3rd-plural is dijeron — the i of -ieron is absorbed after the j. This same rule applies to all j-stem preterites: trajeron, condujeron, tradujeron, redujeron. The form dijieron with an extra i is wrong even though native speakers occasionally produce it informally.
Mis padres me dijeron que volviera antes de medianoche, pero llegué a la una.
My parents told me to be back before midnight, but I got home at one.
Le dije que no me llamara más y no me ha hecho caso.
I told him not to call me again and he hasn't listened.
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decía | decías | decía | decíamos | decíais | decían |
The imperfect is one of the rare regular tenses for decir — perfectly regular -ir endings on the bare stem dec-.
Mi abuelo siempre decía que la paciencia es la madre de la ciencia.
My grandfather always used to say that patience is the mother of wisdom.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| diré | dirás | dirá | diremos | diréis | dirán |
The future uses the contracted stem dir-: the e of decir drops out before the future endings, the same way it drops in haré (from hacer). This is one of only twelve irregular future stems in the whole language. The endings themselves are perfectly regular.
Te diré la verdad cuando estemos a solas.
I'll tell you the truth when we're alone.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| diría | dirías | diría | diríamos | diríais | dirían |
Same dir- stem as the future.
Yo no diría que es un genio, pero tampoco es tonto.
I wouldn't say he's a genius, but he's not stupid either.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses use the irregular participle dicho.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he dicho | has dicho | ha dicho | hemos dicho | habéis dicho | han dicho |
In Spain, he dicho is the everyday form for something said today or in the recent past: te lo he dicho mil veces (I've told you a thousand times). In Latin America the same idea is usually rendered with the simple preterite te lo dije.
Te lo he dicho mil veces: no se come con la boca abierta.
I've told you a thousand times: don't eat with your mouth open.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había dicho | habías dicho | había dicho | habíamos dicho | habíais dicho | habían dicho |
Cuando llegué a la fiesta, ya me habían dicho que tú no ibas a ir.
By the time I got to the party, they'd already told me you weren't going.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré dicho | habrás dicho | habrá dicho | habremos dicho | habréis dicho | habrán dicho |
Para entonces ya habremos dicho lo que teníamos que decir.
By then we'll have said what we had to say.
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría dicho | habrías dicho | habría dicho | habríamos dicho | habríais dicho | habrían dicho |
Si lo hubiera sabido, no habría dicho ni una palabra.
If I'd known, I wouldn't have said a single word.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| diga | digas | diga | digamos | digáis | digan |
The whole present subjunctive is built on the irregular yo stem dig- — the standard rule for forming subjunctives from yo-go verbs. There is no e→i alternation here because the stem already starts with dig-.
No le digas nada a mi madre, que se preocupa por todo.
Don't tell my mum anything — she worries about everything.
Me da igual lo que digan los demás.
I don't care what other people say.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | dijera | dijeras | dijera | dijéramos | dijerais | dijeran |
| -se | dijese | dijeses | dijese | dijésemos | dijeseis | dijesen |
Built from dijeron (the 3rd-plural preterite). The j is present throughout, and there is no extra i before the -era / -ese — dijera, not dijiera.
Me pidió que le dijera la verdad y me costó hacerlo.
He asked me to tell him the truth and I found it hard.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya dicho | hayas dicho | haya dicho | hayamos dicho | hayáis dicho | hayan dicho |
Es posible que ya le haya dicho a su jefe lo que pensaba.
It's possible she's already told her boss what she thought.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera dicho | hubieras dicho | hubiera dicho | hubiéramos dicho | hubierais dicho | hubieran dicho |
| -se | hubiese dicho | hubieses dicho | hubiese dicho | hubiésemos dicho | hubieseis dicho | hubiesen dicho |
Si me lo hubieras dicho antes, habría reaccionado de otra manera.
If you'd told me earlier, I'd have reacted differently.
Imperative
The affirmative tú form is the famously short di, one of the eight monosyllabic short imperatives (di, haz, ve, pon, sal, ten, ven, sé). The affirmative vosotros form is decid with the regular -d ending — not dí, decí, or anything else.
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | di | no digas |
| usted | diga | no diga |
| nosotros | digamos | no digamos |
| vosotros | decid | no digáis |
| ustedes | digan | no digan |
When pronouns attach to di, the stress shift forces an accent: dime (one pronoun, no accent), dímelo (two pronouns, accent required to preserve the original stress on di). Similarly dile, díselo.
Dime una cosa: ¿de verdad te interesa este trabajo o no?
Tell me one thing: are you actually interested in this job or not?
No me digáis que ya os vais, si acabáis de llegar.
Don't tell me you're leaving already, you just got here.
Decidle a vuestro padre que la cena está lista.
Tell your father that dinner's ready.
Decir in reported speech
Reported speech is where decir does most of its grammatical heavy lifting. The verb introduces both direct quotation (with quotation marks or a colon) and indirect speech (with que). In indirect speech, the verb of the embedded clause shifts tense by the standard rules:
- Me dijo: "Vendré mañana." → Me dijo que vendría al día siguiente.
- Dice que está cansado. → Dijo que estaba cansado.
When decir introduces an order or request, the embedded clause goes into the subjunctive: Me dijo que viniera (he told me to come). When it just reports a fact, the embedded clause stays indicative: Me dijo que venía (he told me he was coming). This distinction is critical and has no English counterpart — English would use to come in both cases ("told me to come" vs. "told me he was coming").
Mi jefa me dijo que llegara puntual y, claro, llegué tarde.
My boss told me to arrive on time and, of course, I was late.
Me dijo que llegaba tarde porque había mucho tráfico.
She told me she was running late because of heavy traffic.
Decir as a discourse marker
Spaniards use decir constantly as a verbal filler and discourse organizer:
- Es decir — that is to say, in other words. Used to clarify what you just said.
- Digamos — let's say, say. Used to introduce an approximation or a hypothetical.
- Por así decirlo — so to speak.
- ¿Cómo te diría? — How shall I put it?
- Digo / digo yo — I say / I mean. Used to soften an opinion.
- Diga (¿?) — the traditional way to answer the phone in Spain, equivalent to Hello? (though ¿Dígame? and just ¿Sí? are now more common).
No me parece justo, es decir, podrían habernos avisado antes.
It doesn't seem fair to me — that is to say, they could have warned us earlier.
Es un tipo, digamos, complicado.
He's a, let's say, complicated guy.
High-frequency expressions with decir
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| querer decir | to mean (of words or phrases) |
| decir que sí / que no | to say yes / no |
| decir la verdad / mentira | to tell the truth / a lie |
| decir tonterías / chorradas (Spain, informal) | to talk nonsense / rubbish |
| como suele decirse | as they say, as the saying goes |
| dicho y hecho | said and done, no sooner said than done |
| al decir de… | according to… (formal/literary) |
| ni que decir tiene que… | it goes without saying that… |
¿Qué quiere decir 'menudo'? Lo he visto un montón de veces y no lo pillo.
What does 'menudo' mean? I've seen it loads of times and I don't get it.
Ni que decir tiene que estás invitado a la cena del sábado.
It goes without saying that you're invited to Saturday's dinner.
The classic English-speaker error
English splits the territory: say takes a quotation or that-clause but no listener; tell requires a listener. Spanish decir does both. The error English speakers make is inserting a redundant a before the listener-pronoun: decir a mí instead of decirme, or copying English word order and putting the listener at the end as a prepositional phrase. In Spanish, the listener is just an indirect-object clitic attached to the verb: te lo digo, me lo dijo, se lo diré.
A second persistent error is dijieron for dijeron. The 3rd-plural of all j-stem strong preterites drops the i of the ending: dijeron, trajeron, condujeron, redujeron. Even native speakers sometimes write dijieron in informal contexts, but it is wrong by the standard rules and should not be imitated.
A third trap: confusing the indicative dice que viene (he says he's coming — fact reported) with the subjunctive dice que venga (he says she should come — order reported). The choice of mood encodes whether decir is reporting information or transmitting an instruction.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo deco siempre lo que pienso.
The yo form combines yo-go and e→i: digo, not *deco.
✅ Yo digo siempre lo que pienso.
I always say what I think.
❌ Ellos dijieron que no podían venir.
The 3rd-plural j-stem preterite is dijeron, never *dijieron.
✅ Ellos dijeron que no podían venir.
They said they couldn't come.
❌ Te he diciendo mil veces que no entres en mi cuarto.
The participle is dicho (irregular), not *diciendo. Diciendo is the gerund.
✅ Te he dicho mil veces que no entres en mi cuarto.
I've told you a thousand times not to go into my room.
❌ Yo deciré la verdad mañana.
The future stem drops the e: diré, not *deciré.
✅ Yo diré la verdad mañana.
I'll tell the truth tomorrow.
❌ Mi jefe me dijo que venir mañana.
An embedded order requires the subjunctive: que viniera or que venga, not the bare infinitive.
✅ Mi jefe me dijo que viniera mañana.
My boss told me to come tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- Decir combines six irregularities: yo-go (digo), e→i stem change (dices), j-stem strong preterite (dije, dijeron), dropped-vowel future (diré), irregular participle (dicho), short tú imperative (di).
- The 3rd-plural preterite is dijeron, never dijieron — same rule for trajeron, condujeron, tradujeron.
- The future stem dir- is irregular; the conditional uses the same stem (diría).
- The participio dicho appears in every compound tense; the gerund diciendo uses the e→i stem.
- Embedded orders go in the subjunctive (me dijo que viniera); embedded statements stay indicative (me dijo que venía).
- The expression querer decir (literally "to want to say") is the standard verb for "to mean" — Spanish does not use significar for ordinary "what does X mean?".
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