Published December 4, 2025 • Updated April 2, 2026 — Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online, with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier, a voice artist from France.
📘 Dire meaning
Dire is a common and essential irregular French verb meaning “to say” or “to tell.” It is used to report speech, give information, and express meaning in everyday French. You’ll often see it in patterns like dire quelque chose (to say something) and dire que (to say that). For example, je dis la vérité (I tell the truth), il dit que c’est vrai (he says that it’s true), and que veut dire ce mot ? (what does this word mean?). 🔊 Listen to examples.
🎧 Dire pronunciation
The pronunciation of dire is /diʁ/, which sounds like deer.
📝 Dire examples
Je veux te dire quelque chose d’important.
I want to tell you something important.
Il dit toujours bonjour à tout le monde.
He always says hello to everyone.
Qu’est-ce que tu dis ? Je n’ai pas entendu.
What are you saying? I didn’t hear.
Elle a dit la vérité à ses parents.
She told the truth to her parents.
👉 See also: Dire conjugation chart »
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🔗 Related words and expressions
- dire n’importe quoi — to say nonsense, talk rubbish
- c’est-à-dire — that is to say, in other words
- ça va sans dire — it goes without saying
- se dire — to tell oneself, to say to each other
- dire la vérité — to tell the truth
- rien à dire — nothing to say
- autant dire — in other words, effectively
- dire du bien / du mal de — to speak well / badly of someone
📚 Related lessons
👉 Dire conjugation chart »
👉 C’est-à-dire (in other words) »
👉 Que veut dire? What does _ mean? »
🚀 Discover more on FrenchLearner
👉 Verb conjugations hub »
👉 French Word of the Day »
👉 French Vocabulary lists »
