When do we use tell and when say?

Improve your English grammar with our quick easy mini-lesson on the difference between say and tell!

He is a bad actor.
Tell him he is a bad actor.
Say to him he is a bad actor.
Say it nicely.

Say means to express (say) something in words (but not to someone) – orally
we do not mention the direct personal object (who receives the information)

He says he loves chocolate
I said I was late because I missed the bus
They said yes

Say to means to express (say) something in words (to someone) – orally
we mention the direct object (Him, her, them, us, it, James, the girls)

Every morning he says to me that he missed the bus
What is the dumbest thing you can say to your boss
What the president has to say to the people

Tell means to express (say) something in words (to someone) – orally or in writing
we mention or imply the direct object (Him, her, them, us, it, James, the girls)

Every morning he tells me he loves me
Putin told the Americans that he didn’t agree with them over Syria
Tell (us) a story
The story tells (us) of a time many years ago

Review

Tell/say to- express (say) to someone Say- express (say) out loud but to no one in particular
He said that he needed a change and so we told him to quit his job
The forecasters said it would rain so we told the kids to go home.
I said I wasn’t going to tell anybody about the problem, but then I changed my mind and said to James that something fishy was going on!

test yourself! http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/83.html

easy peasy!

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