Say or Tell

Lesson

Many of my Spanish speaking friends often confuse the English verbs 'say' and 'tell'

Both verbs involve the act of speaking, and both can be used to report someone else's speech, so how do you know when to use them?

 The simplest rule to remember is this

• We SAY something     
• We TELL someone something  

• TELL is usually followed by a personal object (the person you are taking to) for example:

"I told Ray that he got the promotion."    "Can you tell me how to get to the mall?"

"Please don't tell the teacher that I forgot my homework."

• SAY is usually used without an object. for example:

"She said Ray got the promotion."    "Paula says you have a new job."

"The teacher said that the homework was due tomorrow."

• If you want to use a personal object after SAY, you can use "said to" as in

Sally said to Tom "I love you"  or  Anthony said to me that he was busy

(Although these are grammatically correct, I feel that they are awkward)

Of course, as with all things English, there are exceptions. There are a few set phrases that always use TELL and not SAY. 

• tell (someone) a story  or tell a story
  
• tell (someone) a lie      or tell a lie
  
• tell (someone) the truth     or tell the truth
  
• tell the future (= to know what the future will bring)
• tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

Here's a an online quiz you can use to check yourself. TELL me how you do!

 http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/cw-say-tell_quiz.htm 

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