Dire And Parlare: How To Use them 

How to say to talk in Italian? Is it dire or parlare? Mm..let’s see. 

Italian is a beautiful language that has many words that are not present in other languages. Dire and parlare are two Italian verbs that are often confused. However, they have, of course, different meanings.

In this post, I will go over the two words and give you a few examples of correct usage examples.

What is the Meaning of Dire?

Dire is usually translated as to say or tell, and it is the verb to use when someone else says something to you or you say something to someone else. Unlike parlare, dire doesn’t involve an exchange or a conversation. 

Unlike parlare, dire is a transitive verb and takes a direct object and an indirect object. In fact, we say, to say something to someone.

Dire qualcosa (direct object) a qualcuno (indirect object)

• Ho detto a Maria di telefonarmi quando torna a casa – I told Maria to call me when she’s back home
• Mi hai detto la verità? – Did you tell me the truth 

Commons expressions using verb dire 

• Come si dice? – How do you say it?
• Dire cavolate (colloquial) – to talk nonsense
• Dire una bugia – to lie
• Dire la verità – to tell the truth 
• Devo dire che – I must say that..
• Dire di sì – to say yes
• Dire di no – to say no

What is the Meaning of Parlare?

Parlare can be translated as either talk or speak, and it is the verb to use when you talk with someone else, you have a conversation. It also notes the general idea of speaking. 

Parlare is an intransitive verb, which in short means that is followed by a preposition. Parlare is typical followed by the preposition con and di 

parlare con means to speak or talk with someone 

parlare di means to speak or talk about someone or something  

• Ieri ho parlato con Graziella di quel fatto lì – Yesterday I talked with Graziale about that thing 

Commons expressions using verb parlare 

• parlare a gesti – to gesture 
• parlare a raffica – to talk non-stop 
• parlare una lingua straniera – to speak a foreign language
• parlare bene o male di qualcuno – to speak well or badly of someone 
• parlare al telefono – to speak or talk on the phone 
• parlare del più e del meno – to speak about everything and anything 
• parlare ad alta voce – to be loud
• parlare a bassa voce – to speak softly 

Examples

• Ieri ho parlato con Patrizia, mi ha detto che è d’accordo la nostra idea.
• Hai parlato con Gianni?
• Mi piace parlare con la gente in treno