Disaient-ils (en. They said)

/di.zɛ.ɛ̃ il/

Meaning & Definition

EnglishFrench

verb

Formulation of speech in the past to express what people said.

Were they telling the truth when they spoke about this topic?

Ils disaient-ils la vérité quand ils parlaient de ce sujet ?

Used to ask questions about what others have expressed.

I wonder what they were saying about the meeting.

Je me demande ce qu'ils disaient-ils au sujet de la réunion.

Development of a quote from a group of people in the past.

During the interview, were they satisfied with the project?

Lors de l'entretien, ils disaient-ils qu'ils étaient satisfaits du projet.

The verb 'dire' comes from Latin 'dicere', meaning 'to declare, to express'. 'Ils' is a third person plural personal pronoun.

What were they saying?

Used to question past statements made by a group of people.

Qu'est-ce qu'ils disaient-ils ?

Were they saying the same thing?

Inquiry about the consistency of statements among several individuals.

Ils disaient-ils la même chose ?

I wonder what they were saying about this.

Questioning the truths or opinions expressed by third parties.

Je me demande ce qu'ils disaient-ils à ce propos.

to say

Verb meaning to state or express.

dire

speech

Verbal expression of ideas or feelings.

discours

statement

Assertion or declaration made publicly.

déclaration

When you talk about what others said in a roundabout way.

Oh, you know, they were saying all sorts of things about the movie.

Oh, tu sais, ils disaient-ils tout et n'importe quoi au sujet du film.

Used to downplay or criticize what has been said by others.

Frankly, what were they saying? It's not worth listening to.

Franchement, qu'est-ce qu'ils disaient-ils ? Ça ne vaut pas la peine d'écouter.