Decir conjugation chart
Decir present tense
presente · I speak
| yo | I say | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you say | |
| vos | you say | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she says | |
| nosotros | we say | |
| vosotros | you all say | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they say |
The highlighted forms change their stem. Notice that nosotros, vosotros and vos stay out: draw a line around the forms that change and you get a boot, which is why these are called “boot verbs.”
Decir preterite
pretérito · I spoke
| yo | I said | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you said | |
| vos | you said | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she said | |
| nosotros | we said | |
| vosotros | you all said | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they said |
Irregular stem dij- + -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -eron, with no accent marks.
Decir imperfect
pretérito imperfecto · I used to speak
| yo | I used to say | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you used to say | |
| vos | you used to say | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she used to say | |
| nosotros | we used to say | |
| vosotros | you all used to say | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they used to say |
Regular: same endings as vivir.
Decir future
futuro · I will speak
| yo | I will say | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you will say | |
| vos | you will say | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she will say | |
| nosotros | we will say | |
| vosotros | you all will say | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they will say |
Irregular stem dir- + -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án.
Decir conditional
condicional · I would speak
| yo | I would say | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you would say | |
| vos | you would say | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she would say | |
| nosotros | we would say | |
| vosotros | you all would say | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they would say |
Irregular stem dir- + -ía, -ías, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
Decir present subjunctive
presente de subjuntivo · that I speak
| yo | that I say | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | that you say | |
| vos | that you say | |
| él, ella, usted | that he/she say | |
| nosotros | that we say | |
| vosotros | that you all say | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | that they say |
Irregular stem dig- (from the yo form digo) + -a, -as, -amos, -áis, -an.
Decir imperfect subjunctive
imperfecto de subjuntivo · if I spoke
| yo | if I said | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | if you said | |
| vos | if you said | |
| él, ella, usted | if he/she said | |
| nosotros | if we said | |
| vosotros | if you all said | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | if they said |
Irregular stem dij- + -era, -eras, -éramos, -erais, -eran.
In the subjunctive, vos takes the same form as tú in careful speech. The imperfect subjunctive also has an -se form (dijese), more common in writing.
Decir affirmative commands
imperativo · speak!
| tú | say! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | say! | |
| usted | say! | |
| nosotros | let's say! | |
| vosotros | say! | |
| ustedes | say! |
Irregular tú form: di. Usted, nosotros and ustedes come from the present subjunctive (diga, digamos, digan).
Decir negative commands
imperativo negativo · don't speak!
| tú | don't say! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | don't say! | |
| usted | don't say! | |
| nosotros | let's not say! | |
| vosotros | don't say! | |
| ustedes | don't say! |
Built from the present subjunctive: no + digas, diga…
Always the verb haber + the past participle dicho, which never changes.
Decir present perfect
pretérito perfecto · I have spoken
| yo | he dicho |
|---|---|
| tú | has dicho |
| vos | has dicho |
| él, ella, usted | ha dicho |
| nosotros | hemos dicho |
| vosotros | habéis dicho |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | han dicho |
Decir pluperfect
pluscuamperfecto · I had spoken
| yo | había dicho |
|---|---|
| tú | habías dicho |
| vos | habías dicho |
| él, ella, usted | había dicho |
| nosotros | habíamos dicho |
| vosotros | habíais dicho |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habían dicho |
Decir future perfect
futuro perfecto · I will have spoken
| yo | habré dicho |
|---|---|
| tú | habrás dicho |
| vos | habrás dicho |
| él, ella, usted | habrá dicho |
| nosotros | habremos dicho |
| vosotros | habréis dicho |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrán dicho |
Decir conditional perfect
condicional perfecto · I would have spoken
| yo | habría dicho |
|---|---|
| tú | habrías dicho |
| vos | habrías dicho |
| él, ella, usted | habría dicho |
| nosotros | habríamos dicho |
| vosotros | habríais dicho |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrían dicho |
Decir present perfect subjunctive
pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo · that I have spoken
| yo | haya dicho |
|---|---|
| tú | hayas dicho |
| vos | hayas dicho |
| él, ella, usted | haya dicho |
| nosotros | hayamos dicho |
| vosotros | hayáis dicho |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hayan dicho |
In Latin America, ustedes is the only “you all”; vosotros is used only in Spain. Vos is used in Argentina, Uruguay and much of Central America. Uncheck the boxes above to hide what you don’t need.
Watch out
“Say” and “tell” are both decir: me dijo que sí is “he told me yes.” The preterite has no i after the j: dijeron, not “dijieron.”
Examples with decir
¿Qué dices?
What are you saying?
Me dijo que venía.
He told me he was coming.
Dime la verdad.
Tell me the truth.
Hear decir from native speakers
Practice decir
Half of these are in the preterite, the tense people look up most for decir. Type the right form and press Enter. A missing accent still counts, but I'll point it out.
With full sentences: preterite exercises.
Verbs like decir
Stem change e → i (decir → dices). Same pattern:
pedir pidesservir sirvesrepetir repitesseguir siguesconseguir consigueselegir eliges
Yo-go verbs (decir → digo). Same pattern:
tener tengohacer hagovenir vengoponer pongosalir salgotraer traigocaer caigooír oigo
Irregular preterite (decir → dije). Same pattern:
estar estuvehaber hubetener tuvehacer hicepoder pudesaber supequerer quisevenir vine