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The irregular verbs dire, lire, and écrire
have similar conjugations. Listen carefully to the forms of these verbs in the present tense.
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| dire 'to say' |
| je dis |
nous disons |
| tu dis |
vous dites |
| il/elle/on dit |
ils/elles disent |
| past participle : dit |
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You may have already seen the verb dire in phrases like Comment dit-on ... ?
(How do you say ... ?) and Qu'est-ce que ça veutdire? (What does that mean?)
Diremeans 'to say' (to say something or to tell someone something) while parler means 'to speak'
(to speak to someone about something, or to speak a language).
Dire is often used to start a phrase or to get someone's attention
(Dis,Tex, tu viens ?, Hey, Tex, are you coming?).
Note the vous form dites. It is unusual because it does not end in -ez.
Dire is one of only three verbs where this is the case (The others are
être: vous êtes, and faire: vous faites).
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| lire 'to read' |
| je lis |
nous lisons |
| tu lis |
vous lisez |
| il/elle/on lit |
ils/elles lisent |
| past participle : lu |
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| écrire 'to write' |
| j'écris |
nous écrivons |
| tu écris |
vous écrivez |
| il/elle/on écrit |
ils/elles écrivent |
| past participle : écrit |
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Other verbs conjugated like écrire include décrire (to describe) and
s'inscrire (to register).
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| Tammy: Dis, Tex, qu'est-ce que tu lis? |
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Tammy: Say, Tex, what are you reading? |
| Tex: Je lis de la poésie. Les poètes disent toujours la vérité. J'écris aussi des poèmes.Et toi, Tammy, qu'est-ce que tu aimes lire? |
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Tex: Oh, I'm reading poetry. Poets always tell the truth. I also write poems. Tammy, what do you like to read? |
| Tammy: Chéri, tu sais bien. J'aime lire des romans érotiques. |
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Tammy: You know sweetheart. I like to read erotic novels. |
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