Dire — to say / tell | French Verb Chart

🇬🇧 Dire in plain English: the verb conversation is made of

Dire — to say, to tell — powers reported speech, opinions and half the connective tissue of spoken French, and its conjugation carries one celebrity irregularity: vous dites. Not *disez* — dites, one of only three -tes survivors in the language (êtes, faites, dites), and the error every learner makes exactly once in public. The rest of the present behaves: je dis, tu dis, il dit, nous disons, ils disent. Passé composé j’ai dit (participle dit — as in « c’est dit », it’s settled), imparfait je disais, futur je dirai, conditionnel je dirais, subjonctif que je dise — a compact table by irregular-verb standards, which is fortunate given how often French speakers reach for it: dire que (to say that) introduces reported speech, dis-moi (tell me) opens requests, and disons (let’s say) hedges every estimate in the language.

The phrases are where dire earns its keep. C’est-à-dire — “that is to say” — is the great French clarifier, the correct move whenever precision needs a second attempt. On dirait + noun — “it looks like” — turns the conditional into description: on dirait un rêve. Ça te dit ? — literally “does it say to you?” — is the standard casual invitation: ça te dit, un café ? And vouloir dire means to mean: qu’est-ce que ça veut dire ? is THE question of every learner’s day, built from two verbs this site has already taught you. The family: redire (say again) copies dire exactly, vous redites included; interdire (forbid) and prédire copy everything EXCEPT the celebrity form — vous interdisez, regular — a distinction examiners adore. Write the important pair on a card: vous dites, vous interdisez; say them once a day for a week, and the most useful irregular in French conversation is permanently yours — c’est dit.