Dire means “to say” or “to tell.” It is one of the most frequent verbs in Italian: you need it to report what people said, to give an opinion, and to ask how a word is said (come si dice?).
Infinitive
dire
English
to say, to tell
Auxiliary
avere
Past participle
detto
Gerund
dicendo
Core irregular verb: dire is a shortened form of the Latin dicere, and most of its conjugation is built on the old stem dic-, so it behaves like an -ERE verb rather than an -IRE verb. The present is dico, dici, dice, diciamo, dite, dicono; only voi dite keeps the short form. The imperfect, the gerund and the imperfect subjunctive all use dic-: dicevo, dicendo, dicessi. The passato remoto is strong in three persons (dissi, disse, dissero) and regular on dic- in the others (dicesti, dicemmo, diceste). The future and conditional use the short stem dir-: dirò, direi. The past participle is detto. The tu imperative is dì or di', and a pronoun attached to it doubles its first consonant: dimmi, dillo, dicci, with gli as the exception (digli).
Dire takes what is said as its direct object and the person you say it to with a: dire qualcosa a qualcuno, or with a pronoun, gli ho detto tutto. To report a statement, add che: mi ha detto che è stanco. To pass on an instruction, Italian uses di and an infinitive where English uses “to”: dì a Marco di aspettare (tell Marco to wait). Dire is about the words themselves. For speaking a language or talking about a topic, Italian uses parlare, and for telling a story it uses raccontare. In conversation you also hear dire inside small set phrases all the time: voler dire (to mean), dire di sì (to say yes), a dire il vero (to tell the truth).
Dire always takes avere in compound tenses: ho detto, avevamo detto, avrebbe detto. The participle detto does not change for the subject, so a woman also says ho detto. It does agree with a direct object pronoun (lo, la, li, le) placed before the verb: la verità? Te l'ho detta. Quelle cose le ho dette per rabbia.
Dire in context
Presente:Come si dice «fork» in italiano? (How do you say “fork” in Italian?)
Presente:Che cosa dici? Non ti sento bene. (What are you saying? I can't hear you well.)
Passato Prossimo:Marco mi ha detto che arriva domani. (Marco told me he's arriving tomorrow.)
Imperfetto:Mia nonna diceva sempre che chi dorme non piglia pesci. (My grandmother always said that you snooze, you lose (literally, “whoever sleeps catches no fish”).)
Futuro Semplice:Glielo dirò stasera a cena. (I'll tell him tonight at dinner.)
Condizionale Presente:Direi di partire presto, prima del traffico. (I'd say we should leave early, before the traffic.)
Congiuntivo Presente:Credo che tu dica sul serio. (I think you mean it.)
Imperativo:Di' la verità: sei stato tu? (Tell the truth: was it you?)
Common expressions with dire
voler dire: to mean. Only volere is conjugated: che cosa vuol dire questa parola? (what does this word mean?).
dire di sì / dire di no: to say yes / to say no. Italian puts di before sì and no: ha detto di sì.
come si dice?: how do you say it?. The standard question for asking a word: come si dice «spoon» in italiano?
dire sul serio: to be serious, to mean it. Dici sul serio? is the everyday “are you serious?”
a dire il vero: to tell the truth, actually
per così dire: so to speak
Common mistakes
Ho detto a Marco di aspettare., not Ho detto Marco di aspettare. (I told Marco to wait.). In English you tell someone directly. In Italian the person is an indirect object, so it needs a, or the pronoun gli (le for a woman): gli ho detto di aspettare. The instruction itself is di plus an infinitive, never a plus an infinitive.
Dimmi la verità., not Dimi la verità. (Tell me the truth.). When a pronoun attaches to the short imperative dì, its first consonant doubles: dimmi, dillo, dicci. The only exception is gli, which stays single: digli.
Mi ha raccontato una storia bellissima., not Mi ha detto una storia bellissima. (He told me a beautiful story.). English “tell” covers both words and stories. Italian uses dire for words, facts and opinions (dire la verità, dire una bugia) and raccontare for a story or an account of events.
Only on the surface. Dire comes from the Latin dicere, and almost every form is built on the stem dic- with -ERE endings: dicevo, dicendo, dicessi. Many grammars list it with the second conjugation for this reason. The short stem dir- appears only in the infinitive, the future (dirò) and the conditional (direi).
Does dire take essere or avere?
Avere, always: ho detto, abbiamo detto, avevano detto. The participle detto stays the same for every subject, but it agrees with a direct object pronoun placed before it: le ho dette, l'ho detta.
What is the past participle of dire?
Detto. It is irregular, so do not build it from the infinitive. It is also a noun, un detto (a saying), and it appears in the phrase detto fatto (no sooner said than done).
What is the difference between dire and parlare?
Dire needs something that is said: dire una parola, dire che piove. Parlare means to speak or to talk, and it is the verb for languages and topics: parlo italiano, parliamo di lavoro. You never say dire italiano.
How do you say “tell me” in Italian?
To one friend, dimmi. To a group, ditemi. To a stranger in the formal Lei form, mi dica. Mi dica is also what shop and bar staff say when it is your turn, with the meaning “how can I help you?”