Say vs Tell? | Said vs Told?

 

Do you get confused between ‘say’ and ‘tell’ or ‘said’ or ‘told’ while speaking? You are not alone! Many people get confused between these words and don’t know which one to use where. Since both of these words have the same meaning, it can be a little perplexing for a beginner to understand their usage. But, it is not that complex. Continue reading and you will easily understand their meaning and how to use them. After this, you will never get confused and make mistakes.

Meanings of Tell and Say

The meanings of these two verbs, tell and say, are similar. The main meaning of tell is to "say or write something to someone." The main meaning of say is to "use your voice to express something in words."

The simple way to think of say and tell is:

• You say words (something)

• You tell someone something

Meaning of Told and Said

'Told' is the past tense of 'tell' and 'said' is the past tense of 'say'.

The simple way to use said and told is:

• You said something

• You told someone something

The above sentences help greatly to understand that when a person speaks during a conversation, he/she is saying something from his/her point of view, but from a listener’s or a bystander’s perspective, he/she is telling something to the rest of the people participating in the conversation.

Grammatically, 'told' is a transitive verb, which always needs an object to make sense. Whereas, 'said' doesn’t require any object to go with. A sentence that has said need not have an object in it, but a sentence having told must necessarily feature an object in it.

TELL

We use 'tell' without an indirect object with words such as the truth, a lie, a joke, a story, etc. 'Tell' is used only to instruct or inform, and when the receiver of the information is included as an object of the verb. Do not use it for quotes.

• Please tell us your name and occupation.

• Can you tell me what happened?

Here are a few fixed phrases with 'tell'. We cannot use say with these phrases:

• tell (someone) a story

• tell (someone) a lie

• tell (someone) the truth

• tell the future (= to know what the future will bring)

• tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

Some more examples:

• You should never tell a lie.

• You’re good at telling jokes.

SAY

'Say' does not take an indirect object. 'Say' is used for exact quotes, and when the receiver isn’t mentioned in the sentence.

• “I am going out,” she says.

Say is also used to express opinions:

• I wouldn't say that he's a great guitarist [=I don't think he's a great guitarist].

• They say that you should drink eight glasses of water a day.

Some more examples:

• He says that he likes apples.

• My brother says that he will not play today.

• I just stopped by to say hello.

Some collocations with 'say' and 'tell'

To make things easy, here are some collocations that are used with the verbs 'tell' and 'say'. These are the most commonly spoken collocations in English with the words- say and tell.

Say	Tell
hi, hello, goodbye yes, no a word something a prayer no more sorry thank you	the truth a lie a secret a story for sure the time one's name someone the way

TOLD

It is the past tense of 'tell' and we use it in the same way as 'tell'. 'Told' is used to report what someone else has spoken to a specific person or a group of persons. 'Told' is used generously in direct speech.

• The police officer told him to stop. [NOT The police officer told him, "Stop."]

• I told her why it had happened.

• They told us to come back the next day.

• They told her to wait till the doctor arrived.

SAID

It is the past tense of 'say' and we use it in the same way as 'say'. 'Said' is used to report what someone else has spoken. 'Said' is used prominently in indirect speech.

• She said ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

• He said to me that he was tired.

• He said that he had to leave. (‘He’ is the subject, but there isn’t an object in the sentence. However, the sentence still is complete in nature and makes absolute sense as well, which doesn’t hold same in the case for told.)

• She said to me, ‘I’m your cousin. We’ve never met before.’

• Has she told you the good news, yet?

• “Good morning,” said the woman behind the counter.

• I said three words before he interrupted me again.

AVOID MAKING THESE COMMON MISTAKES

INCORRECT STATEMENT: I told that I would be back by Monday.

CORRECT STATEMENT: I told her that I would be back by Monday.

The above sentence would be held incorrect in terms of grammar. 'Told' is a transitive verb, so it should always be associated with an object. Due to the absence of an object in this sentence, it feels incomplete and doesn’t make complete sense. However, with the addition of an object in form of the pronoun ‘her’, this sentence would be grammatically correct and make absolute sense.

INCORRECT STATEMENT: She said me that she is going.

CORRECT STATEMENT: She said to me that she is going.

The above sentence is incorrect because we don't use a direct object with ‘said.’ 'Said' requires the preposition 'to' to get close to the same thing: She said to me that she is going. Even then, however, 'said' never takes a direct object that is not some kind of a reference to words. I said do it. I said nothing.

'Tell' can take a person as a direct object. I told Bob. I'm telling you now. You would not use it to mean said because it does not take someone's utterance as a direct object. You would never say- I told go, because that would mean you are telling the word "go" something. You would say, I said go.

Well, I hope everything mentioned here was clear and now you understand what is the difference between say and tell or said or told. Don’t worry if you are not able to put it into practice right away. Just practice these sentences, do some exercises and within a short time, you will notice that you are no longer making mistakes with these words. Say and tell- the words that once confused you, are your best friends now! Remember, practice is the key. Use these words as much as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anything in the comments section below.