How to Conjugate the French Verb Dire (to Say)

Dire  means to say or to  tell and it is one of the  10 most common verbs  in the French language. It is also an irregular verb, which can pose a challenge to French students. However, in this lesson, well go through the most basic conjugations of  dire  and learn its various meanings. Well also give you plenty of practice using it in common French expressions. Dire As an Irregular -re  Verb There are regular -er verbs and irregular -er verbs; dire is an irregular -re verb. The irregular group can be organized into five patterns around the verbs prendre, battre, mettre, rompre and those ending in -craindre. The problem is that  dire does not fit into these patterns at all. It belongs to the remaining irregular -re verbs, which have such unusual or unwieldy conjugations that you have to memorize each one separately. These are very common and important verbs, so you really do have to learn them in order to communicate effectively in French. Try working on one verb a day until youve mastered them all. Beyond dire, the list includes boire  (to drink), conclure  (to conclude), conduire  (to drive), connaà ®tre  (to know), coudre  (to sew), croire  (to believe), à ©crire  (to write), faire  (to make), inscrire  (to write down), lire  (to read), naà ®tre  (to be born), plaire  (to please), rire  (to laugh), suivre  (to follow),  and vivre  (to live). Verbs Ending in -dire  Are Conjugated Like Dire Dire is the root of a family of French irregular verbs ending in -dire. All French verbs that have this ending  are conjugated in the same way, so that makes each a little easier to learn. There is one exception, though.  In the  vous  form of the indicative and imperative,  dire  and  redire  end in -ites, while the other verbs end in -isez. A few of the verbs ending in -dire are: redire  - to repeat, say againcontredire   - to contradictse dà ©dire  -  to go back on ones wordinterdire  -  to forbidmà ©dire  -  to malignprà ©dire  -  to predict Simple Conjugations of Dire Dire  is an important verb to learn and its most important conjugations are in the indicative mood. These state the action of saying as a fact. Make these a priority and memorize them, using short sentences to practice each. The indicative mood of  dire  includes the basic present, future, and imperfect past tenses. To use the chart, simply pair the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense. For example, I say is  je dis  and we will tell is  nous disons. Present Future Imperfect je dis dirai disais tu dis diras disais il dit dira disait nous disons dirons disions vous dites direz disiez ils disent diront disaient The present participle of dire is disant. The passà © composà ©Ã‚  of  dire  is formed using the auxiliary verb  avoir  and the past participle  dit. To construct the phrase, combine these two elements with the correct subject pronoun. For instance, we told is  nous avons dit. You may not use the following verb conjugations as often as the others, but they are useful to know. For example, when you want to give the action of saying a little uncertainty, either the subjunctive or the conditional  may be appropriate. Its most likely that youll encounter the passà ¨ simple and the imperfect subjunctive in writing. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je dise dirais dis disse tu dises dirais dis disses il dise dirait dit dt nous disions dirions dmes dissions vous disiez diriez dtes dissiez ils disent diraient dirent dissent When you want to use  dire  as a command or short request, you can use the imperative form. In this case, theres no need to include the subject pronoun: use  dis  instead of  tu dis. Imperative (tu) dis (nous) disons (vous) dites The Many Meanings of  Dire In practice,  dire  generally means to say or to tell: Je  nai  rien  dit. - I didnt say anything.Dis-moi  la và ©rità ©. - Tell me the truth.Comment dit-on furthermore en franà §ais  ? - How do you say furthermore in French? Dire  que  means to say that: Jai dit  que  javais  froid. - I said that I was cold.Je  vais  lui  dire  quil  doit  nous aider. - Im going to tell him that he has to help us. Dire de  can mean to think or to have an opinion on or to feel like: Quest-ce  que  tu  dis de mon  idà ©e  ? -  What do you think of my idea?Que  dites-vous  de la  maison  ? -  What do you think about the house?Ça te dit de  sortir  ? -  Do you feel like going out?Ça  ne  me dit  rien. -  I dont feel like it at all. That doesnt do anything for me. Using  Se Dire Se dire  can be either a pronominal or  passive voice construction. In the pronominal,  dire  can be reflexive (to say to oneself) or reciprocal (to say to each other) Reflexive  - to say to oneself Je me  suis  dit de  ne  pas  pleurer. -  I told myself not to cry.Il  sest  dit,  bon,  il  faut  essayer encore  une  fois. -  He said to himself, Well, I have to try again. Figuratively, the reflexive dire  means to claim (to be): Il  se  dit avocat. -  He claims to be a lawyer.Elle  se  dit prà ªte. -  She claims shes ready. Reciprocal  - to say to each other Nous devons nous dire au revoir. -  We have to say  goodbye  (to each other).Ils  se  sont  enfin  dit  quils  saiment. -  They finally told each other that they love each other.   In the  passive construction,  se  dire  means to be said: Ça  ne  se  dit pas. -  That isnt said.Ça  ne  se  dit plus. -  That isnt said anymore. People dont say that anymore.Comment à §a  se  dit en  espagnol? -  How is that said in Spanish? French Expressions With Dire Because it is such a useful verb, there are  several colorful, opinionated idiomatic expressions that use  dire. Among those are phrases such as: ceci/cela  dit  - (with) that saidcela  va  sans dire  - that goes without sayingcest-à  -dire  - that is (to say)comme on dit  - so to speak, as they sayautrement dit  -  in other wordsvouloir dire  - to meanentendre dire  - to hear (it said that)à  Ã‚  ce  quil dit  -  according to himJai entendu dire quil va...  - I heard that hes going to...on se dirait  - you would think, you can almost imagineÇa ne me dit pas grand-chose.  -  I dont think much of that. You can also use it to say that someone expressed frustration: dire à  Ã‚  quelquun  ses  quatre và ©rità ©s  -  to give someone a piece of ones minddire à  Ã‚  quelquun  son  fait, dire son  fait  Ãƒ   quelquun  -  to tell someone offdire  ce  quon  a  sur  le cÅ“ur -  Ã‚  to get something off ones chestdire des  sottises  / bà ªtises -  to talk nonsense Then, there are a handful of common English phrases that can be translated into French: dire  toujours  amen -  to be a yes-manÀ  qui le  dis-tu  ?  -  Youre telling me!à   vrai dire  -  to tell you the truthaussità ´t dit, aussità ´t fait -  no sooner said than done