No. 2,192 in French
disait
"Disait" means "was saying" or "said" (imperfect tense of "dire").
In a sentence
Elle disait qu'elle avait terminé son travail.
She said that she had finished her work.
In this sentence, 'disait' is used in the imparfait tense to indicate that the act of saying was ongoing or happened repeatedly in the past.
Il disait toujours qu'il aimait les chats.
He always said that he loved cats.
Here, 'disait' expresses habitual action in the past, showing that he consistently declared his fondness for cats during that time.
Quand je lui ai demandé, il disait qu'il ne savait pas.
When I asked him, he said that he did not know.
In this example, 'disait' reflects an action occurring simultaneously in the past as part of a narrative or conversation.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “disait” in actual French podcasts.
Find “disait” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appFrench books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).