Learn French: Ils disent qu'ils vont raconter cette histoire. - They say that they are going to tell this story.

Ils disent qu'ils vont raconter cette histoire.

They say that they are going to tell this story.

Breakdown of Ils disent qu'ils vont raconter cette histoire.

ils

they (masculine/mixed)

Questions & Answers about Ils disent qu'ils vont raconter cette histoire.

In English, we use "say" and "tell." Why does French use both dire and raconter here?

Dire generally means "to say" or "to tell" a fact or a statement, which is why we use it for "They say that..." (Ils disent que...). Raconter, however, specifically means "to recount" or "to narrate." You wouldn't use dire for telling a story; in French, you always use raconter une histoire.

How do you pronounce ils disent?

The -ent ending for the "they" form of verbs is always silent in French. You pronounce disent just like dise (sounds like "deez"). Keep in mind that dire is irregular: its "they" form has an 's' sound in the middle, which is different from the "you" form you learned (vous dites).

Why is it qu'ils instead of que ils?

The word que (which means "that" here) drops its e and adds an apostrophe when the next word starts with a vowel or a silent 'h'. Since ils starts with an 'i', que ils must combine into qu'ils.

Why is raconter not conjugated here?

This sentence uses the near future tense to express what they are going to do. Just like in English, you conjugate the verb "to go" (ils vont) and leave the main action verb in its unconjugated infinitive form (raconter).