Say and Tell

The meanings of “say” and “tell” are very close. The best way to learn the difference is with examples.

Grammatical difference:

tell	Usually, “tell” answers the question:    Who?	Wrong:
	I told him about the change.	I told to him…
	She told them to meet her at the station.	She told to them…
	They told me they would be late.
	He told me to bring the key, but I forgot.	He told to me…
	Every morning, I tell Sam to finish his breakfast.
	The manager told me to do it again.
say	Usually, “say” answers the question:    What?
	He said he would be late.	He said me…
	They said it didn’t matter.	They said me…
	Then he said, “I don’t want to drive”.
	Using “said”, you can also say to whom you are speaking. In that case, you use “to”. Compare the following correct examples:
	Then he said, “I don’t want to drive”.
	Then he said to me, “I don’t want to drive”.	Then he said me…
	I said, “How’s the weather?”
	I said to the man with the wooden leg, “How’s the weather?”

Common Mistakes:

He said me….	Wrong!
He said to me…	right
She told to me.	Wrong!
She told me.	right

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Pronunciation:

“Said” is a common word. The vowel sound is short, not long. Pronounce it correctly:

Redhead Ted said “bed, wed, fed”.

More Examples:

I told him to get ready but he didn’t.	I said, “Get ready”!  But he didn’t.
Last week the teacher told the class a joke.	The teacher said a joke to the class. (Wrong!)
The teacher told us to study page 65.	The teacher said to study page 65.
He didn’t tell me what happened.	He didn’t say what happened.
She told me about the new store.	She said “Hey, there’s a new store!”
The salesclerk told me they were all out.	The salesclerk said they were all out.
He told me he would look again.	He said he would look again.
He told me I stepped on his foot.	He said I stepped on his foot!
She told her she was sorry.	She said she was sorry.

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