Say and tell

Direct and indirect speech

We use 'say' and 'tell' in both direct and indirect speech.
DIRECT SPEECH: I said: "I'm hungry."  /  I told him: "I'm hungry."
INDIRECT SPEECH: I said that I was hungry  /  I told him that I was hungry.

We cannot use 'say' or 'tell' with indirect questions.
Jim asked (me) if I wanted to play football.
NOT: Jim told/said me if I wanted to play football.

Using objects

With 'tell', we say who is told.
He told me that he liked playing tennis.
NOT: He said me that he liked playing tennis.
NOT: He told that he liked playing tennis.

With 'say', if we want to use a personal object, we use to.
He said to them that he would be late.

With other objects, we don't usually use 'tell'.
He said a strange thing.
NOT: He told a strange thing.

Orders and instructions

We can use 'tell' + object + infinitive to give orders and instructions.
I told my son to stop shouting.
She told me to shut up.

See also: Reported speech / Reported questions

Teaching Say and tell

  We use 'tell' to give or ask for information. For example:
"Please tell me your name."
"Could you tell me your address?"
"I told him the time."
We wouldn't use 'say' in these examples as they are all asking for information.
Sue

  I like to keep it simple and I focus on 'say something' and 'tell someone'. The details come with lots of practice.
Mark

  I use a whispering game where I whisper into a student's ear a sentence using say or tell and the student is to report to the next person whatever he/she heard... this person is to write down whatever he/she heard and pass on the message until it reaches the last person. This can be done in groups. The last students are then asked to compare their sentences and if the sentences are different, they then check each others work and figure out the original sentence.
Liz

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How do you teach say and tell?

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