AVOID Mistakes in speaking English | Speak, Talk, Say, Tell difference

Hi there this is Harry Welcome back to advanced  English lessons with Harry where I try to help  

you to get a better understanding of the  English language. And as you know in all of  

these lessons I always ask you to send me in your  contributions, or questions, or even if you have  

suggestions what you would like to have included  in future lessons. Well, this particular lesson  

is exactly that. Hello there, Ruben. This is for  you. You asked me to give you some idea through  

a lesson about the difference of say, tell, speak  and talk and a few other words like ask that I've  

thrown in. And utter and convey. So this lesson is  for all of you out there with these difficulties,  

but in particular, it's been asked  and requested by Ruben. Okay, so...

And if you do like this particular  lesson, then please like the video,  

and you can subscribe to the channel because  you know, it does it really, really helps.

Okay, so it's an advanced English lesson and  we're looking at different ways of the differences  

between to say, to tell, to speak, and talk. Now,  there are other verbs as I mentioned, to ask,  

convey, and utter and I'll mention those as we  go through the lesson. Okay, let's get started.

Say. Say is an irregular verb, irregular verb.  And we say-said-said. There the three parts of  

the verb say, said, said. Say is used with  or without a personal object. For example,  

Sarah said that she was tired. Sarah said that  she was tired. You can also use it with them a  

personal object, followed by the preposition. For  example, Sarah said to me that she was tired. So  

you've got two options to say it with or without  the personal object. Sara said that she was tired.  

In that case, it's without the personal object,.  Or Sara said to me, and as our personal object me,  

Sarah said to me that she was tired. So notice how  we structure the sentence Sarah said that she was  

tired. Or Sarah said to me that she was tired,  okay? It's not Sarah say me, okay. Sara said  

to me, or Sarah said that she was tired. Say can  also be used when we want to express an opinion or  

a thought, for example, I say that we should give  each person 20 tickets so that they can sell them  

and raise some money for charity. That's what I  say. Okay, or we could even say, Oh, I say, what's  

that over there? That looks very interesting.  So we use it to raise an opinion or a view or  

to get people's attention to something, Oh, I say,  what's that? So you can use it in different ways.

Okay, then let's look at the verb tell, to tell.  And again, we're talking about an irregular verb,  

tell-told-told. So there's your three parts  tell, told and told, okay. And tell is always,  

always followed by a personal object. For example,  She told me she was tired. Or she told me that she  

was tired. You can either include or exclude that  she told me she was tired, or she told me that  

she was tired. The important thing is that after  told, it's followed by that personal object. Me,  

okay. And when we use tell, it's often used to  describe when we give orders or instructions.  

I told them to go to bed. So when you wanted  children to get to bed early, or whenever I  

told them to go to bed, I told them to go to bed  after their supper. I told you to ring the doctor,  

did you ring him? I told you to ring the  doctor. So we're giving instructions. And  

usually we're using it in not so harsh, but  very, very dictatorial or strong way I told  

you to ring your doctor. Why didn't you? I told  the kids to go to bed. Why aren't they in bed?

Say and tell can both be used when we're talking  about either direct or reported speech. For  

example, she said, 'I want to leave.' So at the  party, she said I want to leave. She said that  

she wanted to leave. She said, 'I hate tea.' She  told me she hates tea. Okay, so we can use it in  

that direct and reported speech and say and tell  are always interchangeable. The only thing you  

have to do, you have to change the structure of  the sentence to make it a little different. And  

to make it grammatically accurate, of course. For  example, did she tell you what happened yesterday?  

So question, did she tell you what happened  yesterday? Or did she say what happened yesterday?  

Did she tell you what happened yesterday? Did  she say what happened yesterday? The meaning is  

exactly the same, the structure is slightly  different. What did Jack say? What did Jack  

tell you? Exactly the same. There's a different  structure we want to say, or use say or tell.

Now let's look at speak. Speak again  is an irregular verb. And the three  

parts are different speak-spoke- spoken.  I speak, he spoke, I have spoken. Speak,  

spoke, spoken. And make sure you get that  pronunciation speak, spoke and spoken.

Speak is used in a little bit more of a formal  way and formal situations, particularly when you  

want to emphasise that something is important.  For example, I will speak to you later. I will  

speak to you later. I will speak to management  and ask them to increase our salaries. I will  

speak to management and ask them to increase  our salary. So a little bit more formal.  

And it's also used when we're referring to  languages. For example, he can speak three  

languages. He can speak German, English,  and Spanish. He can speak three languages.  

Or indeed, if somebody is talking about  making an address to a large gathering or  

crowd. The senior manager will speak at the  end of the conference. The senior manager  

will speak at the beginning of the party,  just to introduce. So welcome everybody  

to this year's annual get together. Okay, so  we're using it in slightly more formal way.

Talk. Talk is a regular verb, okay. So  the others we've looked at areirregular,  

so talk is the regular verb. And it's talk-talked.  I talk, he talked. Now, remember when you're using  

it in that past tense, make sure you get the  correct pronunciation of that -ed ending. Talk  

is going to sound talked. I talk, he talked.  Okay. So make sure you pronounce that -ed ending  

correctly. The same as walk-walked. Talk-talked.  The sound and the ending exactly the same.  

So we use talk when we're in a much more relaxed  environment, or relaxed setting among friends or  

family. And usually in a conversational style.  Okay, you can use talk like this. I was talking  

to your mom the other day, and she said you  were enjoying your early college days. Yeah,  

I was talking to your mom the other day. We  talked all night about our favourite movies,  

we talked forever. So the boy and girl meeting  for the first time or the second time in their  

relationship, it's... we talked forever.  We we could have talked all night. Yeah,  

so something a little bit more relaxed,  and a little bit more friendly and inform.

And again, as we said before, speak and talk,  they are interchangeable, okay. And it depends  

on the formality of the speech that you're  talking to. And in this situation, there's  

no need to change the grammatical structure and  the sentence is usually the same. For example,  

I would like to speak to your manager, I would  like to speak to your manager. I would like to  

talk with your parents. I'd like to speak to your  manager. I would like to talk with your parents.  

They're not very different, okay, the structure  the sentences is exactly the same. But as I said,  

I would like to talk to your manager, or I'd like  to speak to your parents, you know, whether I say  

talk or speak, it's not going to change the  meaning, the intention, or what I want to do.

Now, we can use different prepositions. Do we  use 'with' or do we use 'to?' So let me give  

you a couple of examples of that. When we speak TO  someone, it's usually in a way, like it's one way  

yeah. So if your boss is really annoyed with you.  Or your parents are really annoyed with you. Or  

you're really annoyed with your kids. You can use  it one way, I will speak to you later. I'll speak  

to you later. So you're going to have to sit there  and listen to mother or father. Or you're going to  

have to listen to the teacher, I'll speak to you  later. So it's very much one way. And if we want  

to use it in a more conversational style, where  it's two way then we can use WITH. Yeah, I would  

like to speak with the team and find out what they  want to do. Okay, I'll speak with you all a little  

later. And we can listen to whatever suggestions  you have. So it's, it's more involved, okay? It's  

more convivial and it's more friendly. Okay, so to  speak to somebody. Maybe just one way, I'll speak  

to you later. Speak with be... can be involving a  few other people, and it's a two way conversation.

Now, let's move on to the verb ask, okay.  To ask. And again, pronunciation here as  

us get that k sound at the end to ask. So ask is  used usually in indirect and reported speech when  

talking about questions, okay? Somebody might  say, Why do you want to leave your job? Why do  

you want to leave your job? Pam asked me why  I wanted to leave my job. Or my manager asked  

me why I wanted to leave my job. Can you ride  a bicycle? Question. Can you ride a bicycle?  

Ben asked Sam if he could ride a bicycle.  Ben asked Sam if he could ride a bicycle.  

Could you do me a favour? He  asked me to do him a favour,  

he asked me to do him a favour. So we're using  it there in both indirect and reported speech.

Now, you also asked about words utter and convey.  Now, they're not necessarily ways of talking.  

Utter is a word we use when we're given a  style, okay of talking. And often it's used in  

the negative context. For example, sit there and  don't utter a word. So if the parents are really  

annoyed with you, or they're angry, then they  just tell you sit on the sofa but don't utter  

a word. Don't speak until you are spoken to, in  other words don't utter a word. Or he sat in the  

conference all day without uttering a word, yeah.  Without uttering a word. So again, using it in a  

slightly negative context, it's got nothing to  do with he uttered something or something was  

uttered. It's not like ask or talk or speak, it's  just a method or a way of talking, but as I said,  

it's usually used with a negative context. Now, be  very, very careful because there are other ways to  

use utter. Here we're using it as a verb to utter,  okay, but if it's used as an adjective, or an  

adverb, it's in a completely different meaning.  And you just have to be really, really careful.  

So remember, here we are using it as a verb, to  utter. So he sat there without uttering a sound.

Convey. Now, convey can be quite formal, and it's  the definition of it is about conveying or giving  

a message, okay? Please convey my gratitude to  your parents for their help. Please convey my  

wishes to the management. So if you're in  a hotel, and you want to be very formal,  

and you want to make a complaint, so  please convey my wishes to the management.  

If somebody has died in the family, and  somebody is really paying their respects,  

they might use an expression like, I would like  to convey my condolences. I'd like you to convey  

my condolences to your family and really sad to  hear about your loss. So it's all about giving or  

transporting something, in this case, a message  giving a message from one person to another,  

in a more formal way. Okay? So we always  convey messages. We convey our wishes,  

and we can convey our condolences.  Okay, so that's utter and convey.

Okay, so hopefully, Ruben that's covered those  points, I hope you understand them. As always,  

please practice. And if you have any more problems  or difficulties, come back to me and I'll give  

you a few more suggestions and a few more ideas.  Okay. So as always try to practice and remember,  

practice, practice, practice, because that's  the best way to learn and to improve of  

all. As always, if you want something  else, you know, as Ruben did write to me,  

and we'll include it in a future video  for you. Okay, this is Harry saying  

goodbye. Thanks for listening. Thanks for  watching. Join me again for the next lesson.