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FrenchConjugationImparfait

Dire (to say) · Imparfait

By TutorLily Editorial Team · Last updated

Dire in the French imparfait is: je disais, tu disais, il/elle/on disait, nous disions, vous disiez, ils/elles disaient. The imparfait of dire is regular, derived from 'disons' → 'dis-': je disais, tu disais, etc. Common uses: habitual past speech, ongoing past speech, and the rhetorical opener 'je disais donc que...' ('so as I was saying...').

dire conjugation in the Imparfait
To SayDire
I used to say
je disais
you used to say
tu disais
he/she used to say
il/elle/on disait
we used to say
nous disions
you used to say
vous disiez
they used to say
ils/elles disaient
Examples

Dire (to say) in context

Sentences that use dire in the imparfait. Tap each to hear it.

Ma grand-mère disait toujours la même chose.

My grandmother always used to say the same thing.

Tu disais quoi avant d'être interrompu?

What were you saying before you were interrupted?

Il disait que tout irait bien.

He used to say everything would be fine.

Nous disions souvent que c'était difficile.

We often used to say it was difficult.

Vous disiez que vous étiez fatigués.

You were saying you were tired.

Ils disaient des choses très étranges.

They used to say very strange things.

Tip

Working with the imparfait

The imparfait paints the background of a past scene: weather, age, habits, descriptions, ongoing actions that get interrupted. "Il faisait nuit" (it was nighttime), "j'avais cinq ans" (I was five years old), "je marchais quand tu m'as appelé" (I was walking when you called me). The imparfait is almost completely regular — the stem comes from the nous form of the present (nous parlons → je parlais), with only être being truly irregular (j'étais). The contrast with passé composé is the single most important past-tense distinction in French: imparfait = background or habitual; passé composé = completed event.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do you conjugate dire in the imparfait?
Dire is regular in the imparfait: je disais, tu disais, il/elle/on disait, nous disions, vous disiez, ils/elles disaient. Stem 'dis-' from the nous form 'disons'.
When do I use 'je disais' instead of 'j'ai dit'?
Use 'je disais' for habitual or ongoing past speech: 'chaque jour, je lui disais bonjour' (every day, I used to say hello to him). Use 'j'ai dit' for one-time completed acts of saying: 'hier, je lui ai dit bonjour' (yesterday, I said hello to him). The imparfait also works for an ongoing speech interrupted by something: 'je disais que... mais tu m'as interrompu' (I was saying that... but you interrupted me).
What does 'je disais donc que...' mean?
'Je disais donc que...' literally means 'so I was saying that...' — used to RETURN to a topic after an interruption or digression. It's a rhetorical filler that signals 'let me get back to my point'. Equivalent English phrases: 'as I was saying...', 'back to what I was saying...'. The imparfait 'disais' (rather than passé composé) emphasises ongoing or interrupted speech.
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More tenses of Dire (To Say)

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Dire (to say) · Passé Composé
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Dire (to say) · Subjonctif

More verbs in imparfait

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Dire (to say)
imparfait
Être (to be)
imparfait
Avoir (to have)
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