Say versus Tell
Andrew said he was sick.
Andrew told me he was sick.
In general we use SAY + something
and TELL + someone.
Let's look at each verb in more detail.
Hello
SAY means to express something in words.
You say something.
Say is an irregular verb.
The infinitive
to say
Present tense
say - says
Be careful with the pronunciation of says
Past tense
said
Past participle
said
Present participle
saying
For example: He said hello.
He said something.
Hello is that something.
Note: You cannot say: He said me hello.
No, this is not correct.
Say does not have an object pronoun directly after it.
Object pronouns such as me, him, etc.
You can say something to someone.
He said hello to me.
But it does not come directly after the verb say.
Example sentences with say.
Remember it is say + something
How do you say chicken in Spanish?
i said goodbye to him
We didn't say anything.
Cecilia was saying the same thing.
TELL
You tell someone something.
TELL is an irregular verb.
Infinitive
to tell
Present tense
tell, tells
Past tense
told
Past participle
told
Present participle
telling
You tell someone something.
Look at this sentence.
He said his name.
He did not say his name to a specific person.
We do not know who the listener is.
What if he is talking to me?
We cannot say: He said me his name.
No, this is not correct.
You tell someone something so it becomes:
He told me his name. This is correct.
Let's look at some example sentences.
She told me her name.
He told us his secret.
Can you tell me the time please?
The teacher told them to put their books away.
Did you notice how there is a verb instead of a thing in the last sentence?
You tell someone TO DO something.
The second verb is in the infinitive: to + verb
This is usually a command or for instructions.
For example: I told Steve to be quiet.
They told my sister to turn her music down.
Turn down means to reduce the volume.
TELL can be used with WH words: where, when, what, also how.
The order is TELL + someone + where, when, etc. + the verb.
Some example sentences:
They told us where to find the hotel.
He told me how to fix my computer.
Can you tell me when you are ready?
I told you what happened.
TELL can be used with or without an object pronoun in the following cases.
You tell the truth
I want you to tell me the truth.
I want you to tell the truth.
We don't say: I want you to say the truth.
No, this is not correct. We use tell with truth.
Tell a lie or Tell lies
Amanda has never told me a lie.
Amanda has never told a lie.
But we don't say: Amanda has never said a lie.
No, it's not correct. With lie we need to use the verb tell.
Tell plus a joke
John told us a terrible joke.
John told a terrible joke.
But we don't say: John says a terrible joke.
No, this is not correct.
If we're going to talk about a joke, we say tell a joke.
Tell plus a story
I'm going to tell you a story about trolls
I'm going to tell a story about trolls.
But we don't say: I'm going to say a story.
No, this is not correct.
When we're talking about stories we say tell a story.
Compare these two sentences.
Jack said that he would be late.
Jack told me that he would be late.
In the first sentence, we don't specify exactly who he is talking to.
He just said something.
The listener is not important.
In the second sentence we specify that he said this to me, so we need the verb told.
The listener is specified.
So the basic rule is: say plus something and tell plus someone.
Let's practice.
Complete these sentences with SAID or TOLD.
If you need more time, just click pause.
Julie told me that she has a new job.
Julie said that she has a new job.
We said we were going to be late.
I think he's just told a lie.
Our boss told us to work from home.
They said that they were busy.
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Have an awesome day!