diriger

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīrigō, dīrigere (“to direct”), simplified into a first conjugation French verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.ʁi.ʒe/

• audio

  (file)

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. 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)

present participle		dirigeant /di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
past participle		dirigé /di.ʁi.ʒe/
infinitive
simple		diriger
compound		avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple		dirigeant /di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
compound		ayant + past participle
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	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 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (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)

present participle		se dirigeant /sə di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
past participle		dirigé /di.ʁi.ʒe/
infinitive
simple		se diriger
compound		s'être + past participle
gerund1
simple		se dirigeant /sə di.ʁi.ʒɑ̃/
compound		s'étant + past participle
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	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 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• direct
• directeur
• direction
• dirigeable

Descendants

• → Dutch: dirigeren
• → Romanian: dirija

See also

• droit

Further reading

• “diriger” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

diriger

1. imperative of dirigere