Question 1

Why is dit translated as "told" (past tense) here? Doesn't il dit mean "he tells"?

Accepted Answer

In this sentence, dit is actually in the passé simple, the literary past tense you are currently learning. For the verb dire, the third-person singular form in the passé simple happens to be identical to the present tense (il dit). You know it means "told" here because it's part of a legend or story, which is typically narrated in the past tense.

Question 2

Why is it written as Le héros instead of contracting to L'héros?

Accepted Answer

The word héros begins with a type of H called an aspirated H (h aspiré). Even though you don't pronounce the H, French treats it like a hard consonant boundary. Because of this, you cannot drop the vowel in le or la before it, and you cannot make a connecting sound (liaison) if it follows a plural word.

Question 3

I learned that raconter means "to tell." Why use dit here instead?

Accepted Answer

You use dire (to say/tell) for stating facts or giving information, such as dire la vérité (to tell the truth) or dire un secret (to tell a secret). raconter is used when you are recounting a narrative or an event, like telling a joke or narrating the legend itself.

Question 4

Just as a refresher, why is it au roi and not à le roi?

Accepted Answer

Whenever the preposition à (to) is followed by the masculine singular article le (the), they must combine into the single word au. Therefore, "to the king" always translates to au roi.

Le héros de la légende dit la vérité au roi.

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