Learn French: Vous dites un poème et l'enfant lit un conte. - You say a poem and the child reads a tale.

Dire (to say/tell) is an irregular verb. Most verbs end in -ez with vous (like vous parlez or vous lisez), but dire is one of the rare exceptions that ends in -tes. Two other very common exceptions you have likely seen are vous êtes (you are) and vous faites (you do/make).

Since l'enfant lit means "the child reads", how does lire change for plural pronouns?

Lire (to read) is irregular. While the singular forms are short (je lis, tu lis, il/elle/on lit), the plural forms add an "s" sound before the ending: nous lisons, vous lisez, ils/elles lisent.

In English we "recite" a poem. Do the French just "say" it?

Yes! While dire usually translates to "to say" or "to tell", the expression dire un poème is the natural way to say "to recite a poem" in French. You can use the verb réciter as well, but dire is very common and sounds perfectly natural here.

What is the difference between un conte and une histoire?