Conjugate dire and derivatives in the present tense in French (Le Présent)

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2022-09-29

2 questions

The verb dire and its derivatives follow a specific pattern in Le Présent (Indicatif) in French.

Learn how to conjugate DIRE (to say / to tell) in Le Présent (Indicatif) in French

je dis

tu dis

il/elle/on dit

nous disons

vous dites

ils/elles disent

Listen to these examples:

Je dis la vérité.I tell the truth.

Tu dis n'importe quoi !You're talking nonsense!

Richard dit bonjour à ses collègues.Richard is saying hello to his colleagues.

Nous ne disons jamais de mensonges.We never tell lies.

Qu'est-ce que vous dites ?What are you saying?

Ils disent au revoir à Martine.They're saying goodbye to Martine.

*Other verbs are derived from dire:

redire (to say again)
prédire (to predict)
interdire (to forbid)
médire (to speak ill)
contredire (to contradict)
etc

ATTENTION:

Only redire follow exactly the same conjugation as dire = vous redites

For the other derivatives, the vous form will be different :

vous prédisez, vous interdisez, vous médisez, vous contredisez

and NOT prédites, interdites, médites nor contredites !

Here are more examples:

Je t'interdis de partir.I forbid you to leave.

Tu redis la même chose !You're saying the same thing again!

Il ne contredit jamais sa femme.He never contradicts his wife.

Nous prédisons qu'ils seront en retard.We predict they'll be late.

Vous contredisez souvent les gens ?Do you contradict people often?

Ils nous interdisent de parler anglais.They forbid us to speak English.

Note also that maudire (to curse) conjugates like finir (See Conjugate regular -ir verbs in the present tense in French (Le Présent))

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