Grammar guide Updated 2026-10-09
Say vs Tell: A Practical Grammar Guide
Mark said he was tired and Mark told me he was tired report the same fact, yet swapping the two verbs breaks the sentence. The rule that sorts them out fits on one line: say can stand alone, tell needs a person. You say something; you tell someone something.
The one-line rule
Both verbs are irregular: say–said, tell–told. What separates them is whether a listener must appear in the sentence. Say is comfortable without one: He said hello. Tell is not, because tell always expects the person who receives the information. If a learner writes He told that the bus was late, add the missing person or switch to say.
Say: the words are enough
The basic pattern is say + what was said: She said nothing. He said that he would call. When you do name the listener, that name needs a to: She said to me that she was leaving. He said to the driver, "Stop." That to is the price of naming a person after say, and tell avoids it.
Say also forms a fixed set of greetings and social formulas: say hello, say goodbye, say thanks, say sorry, say please, say a few words. Here tell would change the meaning rather than the style.
Tell: the person comes first
The pattern is tell + person + information: He told me the news. Tell the children a story. The listener can be a pronoun (me, us, them) or a name (Tell Anna), but it must be there, and it never takes to.
Tell also takes a person and a to-infinitive: She told him to wait. She said him to wait is wrong, but She said to wait works when no listener is named. The gerunds and infinitives guide covers the neighbouring pattern with ask and want.
Then come the fixed phrases: tell a story, tell a joke, tell a lie, tell the truth, tell the time, tell a secret. None of them accepts say without a change of meaning.
Collocations you cannot swap
| Phrase | Verb | Why |
|---|---|---|
| say a prayer | say | the prayer is the content |
| say no more | say | a fixed idiom meaning "I understand" |
| tell the difference | tell | a fixed phrase meaning to distinguish two things |
| tell the time | tell | a fixed phrase meaning to read a clock |
Memorising these phrases as single units stops the guessing, because the verb arrives attached to its noun.
Say, tell, speak and talk
| Verb | Focus | Typical pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| say | the words themselves | say something (to someone) | She said she was busy. |
| tell | passing information to a person | tell someone something | She told me she was busy. |
| speak | formal, one-directional, or language ability | speak to someone; speak English | The manager spoke to the group. |
| talk | two-way conversation | talk to/with someone about something | We talked about the plan for an hour. |
Speak is the formal one and the verb for languages: Do you speak Spanish? Talk suggests a two-way conversation, which is why We talked for two hours feels natural and We spoke for two hours sounds stiff.
Reported speech: said that, told me that
The same split runs through reported speech. He said (that) he was tired. He told me (that) he was tired. Both are correct; the difference is still the listener. What fails is He told that he was tired, because there is nobody in the sentence to be told.
Two smaller traps sit nearby. She said me the answer is wrong, because say needs to before a person. In reported questions, keep the ordinary order: He asked me where I lived, not He said me where I lived. The reported speech guide walks through the tense shifts.
Twelve errors to correct early
- He told that he was tired. → He said that he was tired. No listener, so use say.
- She said me the answer. → She told me the answer. A person after say needs to.
- Please tell to me what happened. → Please tell me what happened. No to after tell.
- He said me the truth. → He told me the truth. Tell the truth is fixed.
- I want to say you something. → I want to tell you something. Information for a person takes tell.
- They told us goodbye. → They said goodbye to us. Say goodbye is the set phrase.
- She said to wait for her. → She told us to wait for her. Instructions need tell plus a person.
- Can you say me the time? → Can you tell me the time? Tell the time is fixed.
- He said a joke at lunch. → He told a joke at lunch. Jokes are told, not said.
- My father said me a story. → My father told me a story. Stories go with tell.
- She told hello to everyone. → She said hello to everyone. Greetings take say.
- He told not to worry. → He told me not to worry. The listener cannot be dropped.
A three-minute classroom drill
Put students in pairs. Partner A reads a quote card such as I will be late. Partner B reports it twice: He said he would be late and He told me he would be late. Then B draws a card from the collocation pile (a joke, hello, the time, the truth) and says a full sentence with the correct verb. Pairs score a point per correct verb and a point for explaining why; the explanation is the part that sticks. The routine comes from the classroom grammar drills page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between say and tell?
Say can stand alone and takes the words: He said nothing. Tell needs a person: He told me nothing. If your sentence has no listener, say is usually right.
Why is He told that he was tired wrong?
Because tell cannot appear without the person who receives the information. Add that person (He told me that he was tired) or switch to say.
Do you say tell me the truth or say me the truth?
You say tell me the truth. The person follows tell directly, with no to in between. Say me the truth is impossible in English, though told the truth to me works in the other order.
Can say be followed by a person?
Yes, but the person needs to. Say to me that you are sorry is correct, and so is She said to the class that the test was moved. Tell takes the person directly: She told the class that the test was moved.
Is it tell a joke or say a joke?
Tell a joke, tell a story and tell a lie all use tell, because each one hands information to a listener. Say hello, say goodbye and say thanks use say, because these are words spoken rather than news passed on.