decir

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish dezir, from Latin dīcere, from Proto-Italic *deikō, from Proto-Indo-European *déyḱti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /deˈθiɾ/
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /deˈsiɾ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: de‧cir

Verb

decir (first-person singular present digo, first-person singular preterite dije, past participle dicho)

1. to say, to tell

   Es un mentiroso. Nunca dice la verdad.

   He's a liar. He never tells the truth.

   ¿Qué te dijeron?

   What did they tell you?

   • 1615, Miguel de Cervantes, “Capítulo XXXII”, in El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, Segunda parte:

     Digo, señor don Quijote -dijo la duquesa-, que en todo cuanto vuestra merced dice va con pie de plomo, y, como suele decirse, con la sonda en la mano; y que yo desde aquí adelante creeré […] que hay Dulcinea en el Toboso, […] merecedora que un tal caballero como es el señor don Quijote la sirva; que es lo más que puedo ni sé encarecer.

     “I say, Sir Don Quixote,” said the duchess, “that in all your mercy says, he goes with leaden feet, and as the saying goes, with sounding plummet in hand; and that I henceforth will believe, that there is a Dulcinea in El Toboso, deserving of such a knight as Sir Don Quixote in her service, which is the highest praise that I can give her.”

2. to suggest
3. to show; to demonstrate
4. to call; to name

   Synonym: llamar

5. (reflexive) to be said, to say (when a specific subject is not identified)

   ¿Cómo se dice __ en inglés?

   How do you say __ in English?

6. to declare

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• dezir (obsolete)

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

decir m (plural decires)

1. saying
2. idle talk

Derived terms

Further reading

• “decir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014