French grammar · Intermediate
Dire in French: Conjugation, Vous Dites, and How to Report What Someone Said
Dire means to say and to tell, and it is one of only three verbs in French with the irregular ending -tes in the vous form: vous dites, not *vous disez. It reports speech (il dit que...), passes on instructions (dis-lui de venir), and supplies the everyday phrase for meaning something at all: vouloir dire.
Dis-moi ce que tu veux dire.
Tell me what you mean.
What it is
Dire covers both English verbs say and tell, and French does not distinguish them the way English does. What French insists on instead is the shape of the sentence: whatever is said goes in as a direct object or a que clause, and whoever is told goes in with à.
Elle m'a dit la vérité et elle a dit à Paul de partir. — She told me the truth and she told Paul to leave.
How to spot it
The stem alternates between di- and dis-. The singular is bare, the plural adds -s-, and vous breaks the pattern completely with dites.
- Je dis toujours la même chose. — I always say the same thing.
- Nous disons non. — We say no.
- Vous dites n'importe quoi. — You're talking nonsense.
- Ils disent qu'il est parti. — They say he's left.
Vous dites belongs to a club of three: vous êtes, vous faites, vous dites. Every other verb in French ends in -ez.
Dire Quick Reference
The sentence patterns dire takes
| Pattern | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| dire + noun | dire la vérité | to tell the truth |
| dire à + person | dire à Marie | to tell Marie |
| dire que + clause | il dit qu'il vient | he says he's coming |
| dire à + person + de + infinitive | dis-lui de venir | tell him to come |
| vouloir dire | ça veut dire quoi ? | what does that mean? |
| on dirait que | on dirait qu'il pleut | it looks like it's raining |
| dire bonjour à | dis bonjour à ta mère | say hello to your mother |
| se dire | je me dis que... | I tell myself that... |
Common Dire Examples in French
Dire doing each of its jobs:
Reporting Speech
- Il a dit qu'il serait en retard.
- He said he'd be late.
- Elle dit ne rien savoir.
- She says she knows nothing.
- On dit que le restaurant a fermé.
- They say the restaurant has closed.
- Qu'est-ce que tu as dit ?
- What did you say?
When the reported clause is in the past, the tense shifts back exactly as in English: il dit qu'il vient becomes il a dit qu'il venait.
Telling Someone To Do Something
- Dis-lui de m'appeler.
- Tell him to call me.
- Je t'avais dit de ne pas y aller.
- I'd told you not to go.
- Dites-leur d'attendre dehors.
- Tell them to wait outside.
- Elle m'a dit de me taire.
- She told me to be quiet.
The person is indirect, so the pronouns are lui and leur, never le or les: dis-lui, not *dis-le.
Meaning and Understanding
- Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ?
- What does that mean?
- Ce mot ne me dit rien.
- That word doesn't ring a bell.
- Son nom me dit quelque chose.
- His name rings a bell.
- Ça te dit d'aller au cinéma ?
- Do you fancy going to the cinema?
Vouloir dire is the only way to say what a word means. Signifier exists but sounds formal and technical.
Fixed Openers and Fillers
- Dis donc, tu as changé de coiffure.
- Hey, you've changed your hair.
- À vrai dire, je ne sais pas.
- To tell the truth, I don't know.
- Cela dit, il a raison.
- That said, he's right.
- C'est-à-dire ?
- Meaning?
Dis donc and dites donc are conversational attention-getters, somewhere between hey and well now.
How Dire Works
One irregular form to memorise, one preposition to keep straight, and a family of verbs that only half copies it.
Vous Dites Is the Form to Learn First
Almost every French verb ends in -ez in the vous form. Dire is one of three exceptions, alongside être and faire, and the regularised *vous disez is the single most audible learner error with this verb.
Vous dites cela sérieusement ?
Are you saying that seriously?
vous êtes, vous faites, vous dites.
The Thing Said Is Direct, the Person Is Indirect
French does not have separate verbs for say and tell. What gets said is the direct object; whoever hears it takes à. That is why the pronoun for the listener is lui or leur.
Je lui ai dit la vérité.
I told him the truth.
dire quelque chose à quelqu'un.
An Order Is Passed On With De
To report a command, use dire à quelqu'un de plus an infinitive. There is no subjunctive and no que clause: the de infinitive does the whole job.
Le médecin lui a dit de se reposer.
The doctor told him to rest.
dire à + person + de + infinitive.
The Participle Is Dit
Dire takes avoir, and dit agrees only when a direct object precedes it. That happens mainly with que, ce que, and object pronouns: les mots qu'elle a dits.
Les choses qu'il a dites m'ont blessé.
The things he said hurt me.
dit, dite, dits, dites — agreeing backwards only.
The Family Splits Over Vous
Redire copies dire exactly, including vous redites. But contredire, prédire, interdire and médire regularise the form: vous contredisez, vous interdisez. Maudire has switched groups entirely and behaves like finir.
Vous interdisez le stationnement ici ?
Do you forbid parking here?
Only dire and redire keep -dites.
Common Mistakes with Dire
Incorrect: Vous disez toujours la même chose. — You always say the same thing.
Correct: Vous dites toujours la même chose. — You always say the same thing.
Dire is one of the three verbs whose vous form ends in -tes. Regularising it to -ez is the error native speakers notice immediately.
Incorrect: Je l'ai dit de partir. — I told him to leave.
Correct: Je lui ai dit de partir. — I told him to leave.
The person you tell is an indirect object, introduced by à, so the pronoun is lui or leur. Le and la are reserved for the thing said.
Incorrect: Qu'est-ce que ça signifie dire ? — What does that mean?
Correct: Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ? — What does that mean?
The everyday phrase for meaning is vouloir dire as a unit. Signifier is a separate verb and is used alone, in a formal register: que signifie ce mot ?
Incorrect: Il a dit moi que c'était fini. — He told me it was over.
Correct: Il m'a dit que c'était fini. — He told me it was over.
Object pronouns go before the conjugated verb, and in a compound tense that means before the auxiliary. Moi is the stressed form and only appears after a preposition or in a command.
Dire Conjugated
Two stems, di- and dis-, plus one form that follows neither. The future and conditional are built on the short, regular stem dir-.
Simple tenses
The imperfect and the subjunctive both use dis-, which makes nous disions and que nous disions identical.
| Pronoun | présent | imparfait | futur | subjonctif |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | dis | disais | dirai | dise |
| tu | dis | disais | diras | dises |
| il / elle / on | dit | disait | dira | dise |
| nous | disons | disions | dirons | disions |
| vous | dites | disiez | direz | disiez |
| ils / elles | disent | disaient | diront | disent |
Je dis, tu dis and il dit sound the same. Only the spelling separates them.
Compound tenses and the conditional
Dire takes avoir. The conditional dirais is what you use for softened statements: je dirais que c'est trop cher.
| Pronoun | passé composé | plus-que-parfait | conditionnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| j' | ai dit | avais dit | dirais |
| tu | as dit | avais dit | dirais |
| il / elle / on | a dit | avait dit | dirait |
| nous | avons dit | avions dit | dirions |
| vous | avez dit | aviez dit | diriez |
| ils / elles | ont dit | avaient dit | diraient |
On dirait, literally one would say, is the standard way to say it looks like: on dirait un orage.
Imperative and literary past
The imperative reuses the present forms without pronouns. The passé simple is worth recognising because dire is common in narrative.
| Pronoun | impératif | passé simple |
|---|---|---|
| je | — | dis |
| tu | dis | dis |
| il / elle / on | — | dit |
| nous | disons | dîmes |
| vous | dites | dîtes |
| ils / elles | — | dirent |
The circumflex on dîmes and dîtes is what separates the passé simple vous dîtes from the present vous dites.
The Expressions Built on Dire
Several of the most common turns of phrase in spoken French are built from this one verb, and none of them translate word for word.
Vouloir dire and its relatives
To mean is vouloir dire, literally to want to say. The subject can be a person, a word, or an event.
- Que veut dire ce mot ?
- What does this word mean?
- Je ne voulais pas dire ça.
- I didn't mean that.
- Ça ne veut rien dire.
- That doesn't mean anything.
- C'est-à-dire que je ne peux pas venir.
- Which is to say I can't come.
C'est-à-dire is written with two hyphens and introduces a clarification, like namely or in other words.
Dire with an indirect object for appeal
Ça me dit and ça ne me dit rien turn the listener into an indirect object and describe whether something appeals or is familiar.
- Ça te dit, un café ?
- Fancy a coffee?
- Ce nom ne me dit rien.
- That name means nothing to me.
- Ça me dit quelque chose.
- That rings a bell.
The same phrase covers two ideas — appeal and recognition — and the context decides which one is meant.
Discourse markers
Frozen forms of dire punctuate conversation and writing, marking asides, concessions, and changes of footing.
- À vrai dire, ça m'est égal.
- To be honest, I don't mind.
- Cela dit, je comprends ton point de vue.
- That said, I understand your point.
- Autrement dit, c'est un refus.
- In other words, it's a refusal.
- Dis donc, où étais-tu ?
- Hey, where were you?
Ceci dit is the spoken variant of cela dit and is extremely frequent, though purists prefer cela dit.
Dire FAQs
- How do you conjugate dire in the present tense?
- Je dis, tu dis, il dit, nous disons, vous dites, ils disent. The vous form is the one to watch: it ends in -tes, not -ez, putting dire in the same tiny group as être and faire.
- Does dire mean say or tell?
- Both. French does not split them, so the structure carries the difference: dire quelque chose is to say something, and dire quelque chose à quelqu'un is to tell someone something. The listener always takes à.
- How do you say tell someone to do something?
- Dire à quelqu'un de faire quelque chose: dis-lui de venir, je leur ai dit de patienter. No subjunctive is needed, and the person is a lui or leur pronoun because of the à.
- What does vouloir dire mean?
- To mean. Literally it is to want to say, and it works for words, sentences, and people: que veut dire ce mot ? and je ne voulais pas dire ça. It is far more common in speech than signifier.
- Do all verbs ending in -dire follow the same pattern?
- No. Redire is identical to dire, including vous redites, but contredire, interdire, prédire and médire take the regular -disez in the vous form. Maudire has moved into the finir group entirely: nous maudissons.