Spanish Verb – Decir Conjugation

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Decir Conjugation.” Lingua Linkup, 10 Nov. 2022, lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-decir-conjugation.

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. (2022, November 10). Spanish Verb – Decir Conjugation. Lingua Linkup. https://lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-decir-conjugation/

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Julio Cesar Martinez – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Decir Conjugation.” Lingua Linkup, November 10, 2022. https://lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-decir-conjugation/.

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Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho trecho: el verbo decir (to say)

The verb “decir” is one of the most used verbs in the Spanish language. However, we use it differently, while the verb to say is used just to mention general statements and the verb to tell is used to communicate information with someone specific, we can use Decir with both meanings. For example: ‘Él dijo que había conocido a una chica’, ‘Él me dijo que había conocido a una chica’. In these two cases, we use the same verb but in the case of English, we use it to say for the first statement and to tell for the second one.

Today, we will work on the verb ‘’decir’’, let’s learn together!

Before you continue reading, remember:

You is a pronoun which has different meanings. However, in Spanish we have 3 important pronouns: tú, usted, ustedes. Tú is used when you have confidence with the person you are talking to, usted is more formal and ustedes is used to mention more than one person we are directing to.

In Spanish, we have unspoken subjects, so it is not needed to use a pronoun every time as we do in English.

We use written accents in Spanish. Be careful; otherwise, you will have miscommunication problems in your writing.

Decir is usually used before the word “que”.

• Read the following examples:
• Yo digo que es genial.
• Tú dijiste que estuviste bien.
• Él decía que no era así.
• Nosotros diremos que sí.
• Ustedes dirían que no.

  These are some examples of phrases in the indicative mode of this interesting verb. Do you recognize these tenses?

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Analyze the previous chart and let’s review some examples.

• We use the present tense to communicate a general statement: yo digo que es genial. (I say it is great).
• We use the perfect preterit tense to communicate something that we said on a punctual time: dijiste que estuviste bien (you said that you were fine).
• We use the imperfect preterit to express something we communicated in the past but not in a determined time: él decía que no era así (he said that it was not in that way).
• We use the future simple to communicate things we will express in a future time: nosotros diremos que sí (We will say yes).
• We use the simple conditional tense to express thoughts that we would probably say in a hypothetical case: ustedes dirían que no (you would say not).

Let’s see some of the most used perfect tenses of the indicative mode.

• We build compounded tenses using the verb ‘’HABER’’ (HAVE) and the past participle of the main verb, in this case decir -> dicho.
• We use the compounded perfect preterit to express something we have communicated for a while: He dicho lo mismo desde la semana pasada (I have said the same since last week).
• We use the pluperfect to express something we had already communicated before an action developed in the past: Antes de encontrarnos, ya te lo habíamos dicho (before we met, we had already told you).
• We use the perfect future to express a statement we hope will be said: mañana ya te lo habré dicho todo (I will have told you everything tomorrow).
• We use perfect conditional to express what we have communicated if something had happened: Si no sintiera miedo, se lo habría dicho (if I weren’t afraid, I would have told him).
• In Spanish, we also have two other verbal modes: the subjunctive and the imperative mode.

  Let’s see the common forms of the subjunctive mode:

Subjunctive is usually used to express wishes, wants and hopes. And it is usually introduced by the words: que, ojalá, espero (que), si…, cuando.

The present form is used to express something we would like it to be said in the present: Espero me digas la verdad (I hope you tell me the truth).

The imperfect preterit form to mention something that we hope someone probably says it: Ojalá me dijera lo que sabe (if only he told me what he knows)

The pluperfect is used to express something we wanted to be said in a past situation: si me hubieras dicho la verdad, no hubiera pasado esto (if you had told me the truth, this wouldn’t have happened).

The perfect preterit form is used to express the consequence when something is said in the future: Cuando hayas dicho lo que sabes, esto terminará (when you have said what you know, this will end).

Let’s review a bit the imperative mode:

Dime la verdad (tell me the truth)

Diga lo que sabe (say what you know)

Digamos toda la verdad (let’s say all the truth)

Digan lo que vieron (Say what you saw)

Let’s practice!

1. ______ todo lo que sepas (imperative)
2. Te lo _______ (indicative: perfect preterit)
3. Yo _____ que está bien (indicative: present)
4. Como te ______, pensaba en ella (indicative: imperfect preterit)
5. Nosotros __________ todo lo que sabemos (indicative: future simple).
6. ¿Tú _______ que él lo hizo? (indicative: simple conditional)
7. Espero que tú ______ ______ (subjuntive: perfect preterit)
8. Quiero que me _____ lo que viste (subjuntive: present)
9. Si me _______ _________ todo, te habría ayudado (subjuntive: pluperfect)
10. Si él me ________ su nombre, lo buscaría en Facebook (subjuntive: imperfect preterit)

Answers:

1. Dime
2. Dije
3. Digo
4. Decía
5. Diremos
6. Dirías
7. Hayas dicho
8. Digas
9. Hubieras dicho
10. Dijera

Note: among Colombian people, the expression in today’s title is used when we want to say that something that has been said is very hard to become reality.

About the Author:

Specializations: Spanish Tutors on Skype

Bio: I am Julio Martinez, I have studied a bachelor’s degree in language teaching since 2019, and I am close to get graduated.  I have work as English teacher in some institutions in Colombia, I have also worked as tutor supporting some students to improve their Spanish levels and as tutor for personalized French classes. By the same way, I speak not only Spanish and English but also French and Portuguese, I have been participating in a research group of language teaching for people with difficulties. As well as, I have participated in different seminars of different institutions and Universities in the field of languages teaching.

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