Verb
to say, to tell (to express through speech)
transitive
— Parfaitement... et il a dit à ces dames que c'était un étranger, arrivé récemment à Paris et colossalement riche.— Perfectly…and he told these ladies that he was a foreigner, recently arrived in Paris and colossally rich. to tell (to order, to advise)
transitive
Il lui a dit de partir.He told him to go away. to say, to tell (to set out in writing)
transitive
Je vous ai dit dans ma dernière lettre que….I told you in my last letter that…. to say (often used in the sense of responding to an objection)
transitive
Qu'avez-vous à dire à cela ?What do you have to say to that? to say, to tell of (to celebrate, to sing, to narrate)
poetictransitive
Il leur offrit de dire la messe pour leur obtenir de Dieu, au lieu de l'argent qu'ils demandaient, la grâce de souffrir chrétiennement leur ruine.He offered to say mass to them to obtain for them from God, instead of the money that they were requesting, the grace to suffer their ruin Christianly. to say, to tell (to deliver, to recite)
transitive
C'est bon, je n'aime pas à jouer les gêneurs. Je vais faire un tour au foyer, pendant que tu diras ton couplet.It's fine, I don't like to play the nuisance. I'm going to take a walk in the foyer, whilst you say your verse. to seem like, to look like
figurativelytransitive
[…] ; sous ses cheveux, un œil gris brillait à la moindre contrariété d'un feu si resplendissant, qu'on eût dit alors un œil noir.[…]; under his headhair, a grey eye was shining at the slightest irritation with a fire so gleaming, that it seemed to be then a black eye. to mean, to say, to state (to denote, to signify, to indicate, to mark)
transitive
La fidélité aux traditions, devenue presque maniaque, disait l'appauvrissement d'un sang incapable de recréer.Fidelity to tradition, which had become almost maniacal, meant the impoverishment of blood unable to recreate. to say, to tell (used when speaking of actions, of gestures, of looks, etc., that demonstrate someone's thinking)
figurativelytransitive
Mes yeux, mes regards vous disent que je vous aime.My eyes, my looks tell you that I love you. to call out (to denounce)
informaltransitive
Aïe ! J'le dirai !Ouch! I'mma call him out! to say (to express what one thinks, what one feels, what one sees)
intransitive
Et vous vous réveillez un jour avec ce besoin irrépressible de « dire ».And you wake up one day with this irrepressible need to "say". to say (to signify, to be used for a word, a phrase, a sentence)
reflexive
Ce mot se dit de telle chose.This word is said of such a thing.