French grammar · Beginner
Dire, Écrire and Lire in French: One Pattern, Three Verbs
Dire (to say), écrire (to write) and lire (to read) are three irregular -re verbs that share one shape: a short stem in the singular and a longer stem in the plural. Learn je dis / nous disons, j'écris / nous écrivons, je lis / nous lisons and all three fall into place, with dit, écrit and lu as their past participles.
Dis-moi ce que tu as lu.
Tell me what you read.
What it is
These three verbs are usually taught together because they are irregular in exactly the same way. Each one has a bare-looking singular built on a single vowel plus an ending, and each one brings back a hidden consonant in the plural. Nothing else about them is unpredictable once you know that split.
Je dis, nous disons ; j'écris, nous écrivons ; je lis, nous lisons. — I say, we say; I write, we write; I read, we read.
How to spot it
Look at whether the subject is singular or plural. The singular forms are one syllable and end in -s or -t; the plural forms grow a consonant before the ending: s in disons, v in écrivons, s in lisons.
- Je dis toujours la vérité. — I always tell the truth.
- Nous disons la même chose. — We're saying the same thing.
- Ils écrivent des cartes postales. — They write postcards.
- Vous lisez beaucoup trop vite. — You read far too fast.
Vous dites is the exception inside the exception: it ends in -tes, not -ez. Only three French verbs do that, and the other two are être and faire.
Dire Écrire Lire Quick Reference
Present tense of all three verbs
| Subject | dire | écrire | lire |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | dis | écris | lis |
| tu | dis | écris | lis |
| il / elle / on | dit | écrit | lit |
| nous | disons | écrivons | lisons |
| vous | dites | écrivez | lisez |
| ils / elles | disent | écrivent | lisent |
| past participle | dit | écrit | lu |
Common Dire Écrire Lire Examples in French
The three verbs at work in ordinary sentences:
Saying and Telling
- Qu'est-ce que tu dis ?
- What are you saying?
- Il ne dit jamais rien.
- He never says anything.
- Dites-moi la vérité.
- Tell me the truth.
- On dit que le musée est fermé.
- They say the museum is closed.
Dire covers both say and tell. The person you tell takes an indirect object: je te dis, il nous a dit.
Writing
- J'écris à ma grand-mère chaque mois.
- I write to my grandmother every month.
- Elle a écrit trois romans.
- She has written three novels.
- Comment ça s'écrit ?
- How is that spelled?
- Nous nous écrivons depuis dix ans.
- We've been writing to each other for ten years.
Décrire, s'inscrire and inscrire are built on écrire and follow it exactly: je décris, nous décrivons.
Reading
- Je lis un roman policier.
- I'm reading a detective novel.
- Tu as lu son message ?
- Did you read his message?
- Elle lit à voix haute.
- She reads out loud.
- Il lit dans mes pensées.
- He reads my mind.
Élire (to elect) and relire (to reread) follow lire: nous relisons, il a été élu.
In the Past
- Je l'ai dit hier soir.
- I said it last night.
- Elle m'a écrit une longue lettre.
- She wrote me a long letter.
- Nous avons lu tout le contrat.
- We read the whole contract.
- Ce qui a été dit reste entre nous.
- What was said stays between us.
All three take avoir in compound tenses, so the participle stays as it is: nous avons lu, never nous avons lus.
How Dire, Écrire and Lire Are Built
Four observations account for every form of all three verbs, including the one form that surprises everyone.
Short Singular, Long Plural
Each verb has two stems. The singular stem is minimal (di-, écri-, li-) and takes -s, -s, -t. The plural stem adds a consonant (dis-, écriv-, lis-) and takes the ordinary -ons, -ez, -ent.
Il lit vite, mais ils lisent lentement.
He reads fast, but they read slowly.
Singular bare, plural padded.
Vous Dites, Not Vous Disez
Dire keeps an old ending in the vous form. It is dites, matching faites and êtes. Redire copies it (vous redites), but the other compounds do not: vous contredisez, vous interdisez.
Vous dites que c'est urgent ?
You're saying it's urgent?
dites, faites, êtes.
Écrire Grows a V
The v of écrire appears everywhere the stem is long: nous écrivons, j'écrivais, que j'écrive. It disappears in the singular present and in the past participle écrit, which is why the two halves look unrelated.
Nous écrivions souvent quand nous étions étudiants.
We used to write often when we were students.
Long stem, visible v.
The Participles Are Short and Irregular
Dit, écrit and lu cannot be predicted from the infinitive, but they are only one syllable each and they never change form after avoir unless a direct object comes first.
Les lettres qu'elle a écrites sont sur la table.
The letters she wrote are on the table.
dit, écrit, lu.
Dire Needs a Preposition Before an Infinitive
You cannot put an infinitive straight after dire. To report an instruction, French uses dire à quelqu'un de faire quelque chose. To report a statement, it uses dire que plus a full clause.
Il m'a dit de patienter.
He told me to wait.
dire à quelqu'un de + infinitive.
Common Mistakes with Dire Écrire Lire
Incorrect: Vous disez que c'est faux. — You say it's wrong.
Correct: Vous dites que c'est faux. — You say it's wrong.
Dire keeps an irregular vous form, dites, alongside faites and êtes. Regularising it to disez is the single most common error with this verb.
Incorrect: Il m'a dit que partir. — He told me to leave.
Correct: Il m'a dit de partir. — He told me to leave.
Que introduces a clause with its own conjugated verb. To report an order you need de plus an infinitive, because there is no clause, only an action.
Incorrect: J'ai lit le livre en une nuit. — I read the book in one night.
Correct: J'ai lu le livre en une nuit. — I read the book in one night.
Lit is the third person present, not the participle. The participle of lire is lu, in the same family as vu and su.
Incorrect: Nous écrions à nos amis. — We write to our friends.
Correct: Nous écrivons à nos amis. — We write to our friends.
The v belongs to the plural stem écriv-. Dropping it leaves a form that doesn't exist in French at all.
The Three Verbs Across the Tenses
Once the two stems are in place, every tense follows from them. The long stem carries the imperfect and the subjunctive; the infinitive carries the future.
Present
The tense where the two stems are most visible, and the one that contains the famous vous dites.
| Pronoun | dire | écrire | lire |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | dis | écris | lis |
| tu | dis | écris | lis |
| il / elle / on | dit | écrit | lit |
| nous | disons | écrivons | lisons |
| vous | dites | écrivez | lisez |
| ils / elles | disent | écrivent | lisent |
The je and tu forms are identical in all three verbs, so the subject pronoun is doing all the work.
Passé composé
All three take avoir, and all three have an irregular participle you simply have to know.
| Pronoun | dire (dit) | écrire (écrit) | lire (lu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | ai dit | ai écrit | ai lu |
| tu | as dit | as écrit | as lu |
| il / elle / on | a dit | a écrit | a lu |
| nous | avons dit | avons écrit | avons lu |
| vous | avez dit | avez écrit | avez lu |
| ils / elles | ont dit | ont écrit | ont lu |
Lu is the odd one: it ends in -u like vu and su, while dit and écrit end in -t.
Imperfect
The imperfect is built on the plural stem, so it inherits the s, the v and the s you already know.
| Pronoun | dire | écrire | lire |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | disais | écrivais | lisais |
| tu | disais | écrivais | lisais |
| il / elle / on | disait | écrivait | lisait |
| nous | disions | écrivions | lisions |
| vous | disiez | écriviez | lisiez |
| ils / elles | disaient | écrivaient | lisaient |
Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons, add the imperfect endings. It works for all three.
Future
Here the -re verbs behave normally: drop the final e of the infinitive and add the future endings.
| Pronoun | dire | écrire | lire |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j' | dirai | écrirai | lirai |
| tu | diras | écriras | liras |
| il / elle / on | dira | écrira | lira |
| nous | dirons | écrirons | lirons |
| vous | direz | écrirez | lirez |
| ils / elles | diront | écriront | liront |
The conditional uses the same stems with -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient: je dirais, j'écrirais, je lirais.
Dire Que, Dire De, and the Phrases Built on These Verbs
Dire in particular carries a lot of everyday French, and the structure that follows it changes the meaning.
Reporting a statement vs. reporting an order
Dire que introduces something someone said. Dire de plus an infinitive introduces something someone told you to do. Swapping them changes a report into an instruction.
- Il dit qu'il est fatigué.
- He says he's tired.
- Il me dit de me reposer.
- He tells me to rest.
- Dis-lui que je suis arrivé.
- Tell him I've arrived.
- Dis-lui de venir tout de suite.
- Tell him to come right away.
The person told is always an indirect object: je dis à Marie, je lui dis. Never je dis Marie.
Fixed expressions with dire
A handful of very common phrases are built on dire and don't translate word for word.
- Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ?
- What does that mean?
- Ça ne se dit pas.
- You don't say that. / That isn't said.
- C'est-à-dire ?
- Meaning? / That is to say?
- Ça te dit d'aller au cinéma ?
- Do you fancy going to the cinema?
Vouloir dire is the standard way to say to mean. Signifier exists but sounds formal in speech.
Écrire and lire in set phrases
Both verbs generate their own small stock of idioms worth learning whole.
- Je préfère l'avoir par écrit.
- I'd rather have it in writing.
- Il faut lire entre les lignes.
- You have to read between the lines.
- Ça s'écrit avec deux n.
- It's spelled with two n's.
- Elle lit dans le journal que le prix a baissé.
- She reads in the paper that the price has gone down.
The pronominal ça s'écrit and ça se lit are how French asks and answers spelling and legibility questions.
Dire Écrire Lire FAQs
- How do you conjugate lire in French?
- In the present: je lis, tu lis, il lit, nous lisons, vous lisez, ils lisent. The past participle is lu, so the passé composé is j'ai lu, and the future is built on the infinitive minus its e: je lirai.
- Why is it vous dites and not vous disez?
- Dire preserved an older Latin ending that most verbs lost. Only dire, faire and être still have it, which is why vous dites, vous faites and vous êtes all end in -tes. Redire follows dire (vous redites), but interdire and contredire don't: vous interdisez, vous contredisez.
- What's the difference between dire que and dire de?
- Dire que reports words: il dit qu'il arrive, he says he's coming. Dire de reports an instruction and is followed by an infinitive: il dit d'attendre, he says to wait. The person receiving the message is an indirect object either way: il me dit.
- What are the past participles of dire, écrire and lire?
- Dit, écrit and lu. All three take avoir, so the participle doesn't change for gender or number unless a direct object comes before the verb: la lettre que j'ai écrite.
- Does écrire take à or de before a person?
- À. You write to someone: j'écris à mon frère, elle m'a écrit. What you write is the direct object and the person is indirect, which is why the pronoun is lui and not le: je lui écris souvent.