diriger

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French diriger, from Latin dīrigere (“to direct”), simplified into a first conjugation French verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.ʁi.ʒe/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

diriger

1. (transitive) to run; to direct (be the director of)

   Il dirige son entreprise avec passion.

   He runs his business with passion.

2. to supervise; to oversee
3. to steer (vehicles)

   Il sait bien diriger le bateau.

   He knows how to steer the boat.

4. to aim, to direct

   Dirigez vos armes à l'ennemi.

   Aim your weapons at the enemy.

5. (cinematography) to direct (a film)
6. (reflexive, se diriger) to go towards; to head (for)

   Le camion se dirige vers la falaise.

   The truck is heading for the cliff.

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written dirige- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of diriger (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	diriger
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	dirigeant /di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		dirigé /di.ʁi.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	dirige /di.ʁiʒ/	diriges /di.ʁiʒ/	dirige /di.ʁiʒ/	dirigeons /di.ʁi.ʒɔ̃/	dirigez /di.ʁi.ʒe/	dirigent /di.ʁiʒ/
	imperfect	dirigeais /di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	dirigeais /di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	dirigeait /di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	dirigions /di.ʁi.ʒjɔ̃/	dirigiez /di.ʁi.ʒje/	dirigeaient /di.ʁi.ʒɛ/
	past historic2	dirigeai /di.ʁi.ʒe/	dirigeas /di.ʁi.ʒa/	dirigea /di.ʁi.ʒa/	dirigeâmes /di.ʁi.ʒam/	dirigeâtes /di.ʁi.ʒat/	dirigèrent /di.ʁi.ʒɛʁ/
	future	dirigerai /di.ʁiʒ.ʁe/	dirigeras /di.ʁiʒ.ʁa/	dirigera /di.ʁiʒ.ʁa/	dirigerons /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɔ̃/	dirigerez /di.ʁiʒ.ʁe/	dirigeront /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	dirigerais /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	dirigerais /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	dirigerait /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	dirigerions /di.ʁi.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	dirigeriez /di.ʁi.ʒə.ʁje/	dirigeraient /di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	dirige /di.ʁiʒ/	diriges /di.ʁiʒ/	dirige /di.ʁiʒ/	dirigions /di.ʁi.ʒjɔ̃/	dirigiez /di.ʁi.ʒje/	dirigent /di.ʁiʒ/
	imperfect2	dirigeasse /di.ʁi.ʒas/	dirigeasses /di.ʁi.ʒas/	dirigeât /di.ʁi.ʒa/	dirigeassions /di.ʁi.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	dirigeassiez /di.ʁi.ʒa.sje/	dirigeassent /di.ʁi.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	dirige /di.ʁiʒ/	—	dirigeons /di.ʁi.ʒɔ̃/	dirigez /di.ʁi.ʒe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written dirige- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of se diriger (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se diriger
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se dirigeant /sə di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		dirigé /di.ʁi.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me dirige /mə di.ʁiʒ/	te diriges /tə di.ʁiʒ/	se dirige /sə di.ʁiʒ/	nous dirigeons /nu di.ʁi.ʒɔ̃/	vous dirigez /vu di.ʁi.ʒe/	se dirigent /sə di.ʁiʒ/
	imperfect	me dirigeais /mə di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	te dirigeais /tə di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	se dirigeait /sə di.ʁi.ʒɛ/	nous dirigions /nu di.ʁi.ʒjɔ̃/	vous dirigiez /vu di.ʁi.ʒje/	se dirigeaient /sə di.ʁi.ʒɛ/
	past historic2	me dirigeai /mə di.ʁi.ʒe/	te dirigeas /tə di.ʁi.ʒa/	se dirigea /sə di.ʁi.ʒa/	nous dirigeâmes /nu di.ʁi.ʒam/	vous dirigeâtes /vu di.ʁi.ʒat/	se dirigèrent /sə di.ʁi.ʒɛʁ/
	future	me dirigerai /mə di.ʁiʒ.ʁe/	te dirigeras /tə di.ʁiʒ.ʁa/	se dirigera /sə di.ʁiʒ.ʁa/	nous dirigerons /nu di.ʁiʒ.ʁɔ̃/	vous dirigerez /vu di.ʁiʒ.ʁe/	se dirigeront /sə di.ʁiʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me dirigerais /mə di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	te dirigerais /tə di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	se dirigerait /sə di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/	nous dirigerions /nu di.ʁi.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous dirigeriez /vu di.ʁi.ʒə.ʁje/	se dirigeraient /sə di.ʁiʒ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me dirige /mə di.ʁiʒ/	te diriges /tə di.ʁiʒ/	se dirige /sə di.ʁiʒ/	nous dirigions /nu di.ʁi.ʒjɔ̃/	vous dirigiez /vu di.ʁi.ʒje/	se dirigent /sə di.ʁiʒ/
	imperfect2	me dirigeasse /mə di.ʁi.ʒas/	te dirigeasses /tə di.ʁi.ʒas/	se dirigeât /sə di.ʁi.ʒa/	nous dirigeassions /nu di.ʁi.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	vous dirigeassiez /vu di.ʁi.ʒa.sje/	se dirigeassent /sə di.ʁi.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	dirige-toi /di.ʁiʒ.twa/	—	dirigeons-nous /di.ʁi.ʒɔ̃.nu/	dirigez-vous /di.ʁi.ʒe.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• codiriger
• dirigeable
• dirigisme
• dirigiste
• rediriger
• surdiriger

Related terms

• direct
• directeur
• direction
• directionnel
• directive

Descendants

• → Dutch: dirigeren
• → Romanian: dirija
• → Russian: дирижировать (dirižirovatʹ)
• French: dirigeable
  • → English: dirigible
  • → Russian: дирижа́бль (dirižáblʹ)
    • → Kazakh: дирижабль (dirijabl)
    • → Lithuanian: dirižablis

See also

• droit

Further reading

• “diriger”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Verb

diriger

1. to direct

Conjugation

    Conjugation of diriger

infinitive		diriger
participle		present	perfect
		dirigente	dirigite
active		simple	perfect
	present	dirige	ha dirigite
	past	dirigeva	habeva dirigite
	future	dirigera	habera dirigite
	conditional	dirigerea	haberea dirigite
	imperative	dirige	—
passive		simple	perfect
	present	es dirigite	ha essite dirigite
	past	esseva dirigite	habeva essite dirigite
	future	essera dirigite	habera essite dirigite
	conditional	esserea dirigite	haberea essite dirigite
	imperative	sia dirigite	—

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

diriger

1. imperative of dirigere