Learn English: SAY or TELL?

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you'll learn the difference between two very

commonly confused words, and they are "say" and "tell". Now, these words are confused

because the meaning is almost the same. The meaning is basically to give information,

but the grammar of how we use these words is very different. So, let's understand what

the difference is. It's really quite simple, and I do believe that after you watch this

lesson, in case you're making this mistake, you won't make it anymore. Okay? So, let's

see what it - how it works.

Alright. So, when we use the word "say", we should follow it with "say something". Okay?

As to someone. But for now, let's not worry about that. When we use the word "tell", we

should follow it with "tell someone something". So, if we really compare these two, we say

"say something to someone" or "tell someone something". Okay? Grammatically, if you're

interested in the details, it's basically "say" plus a direct object, plus an indirect

object, and "tell" plus an indirect object, and then a direct object. But those are just

grammatical words, okay? If you don't live in that world and you just want to understand

in terms of real examples, let's look at some examples and I think you'll understand right

away.

So, let's take this sentence. Maria said she was leaving. Okay? Maria said something. Something

is she was leaving. Maria told me she was leaving. So, now we have Maria told someone,

that's me, something, she was leaving. So, the mistake that's most often made is that

students say "told something". So, they might say something like "Maria told she was leaving".

That's the mistake. And that's the mistake you want to avoid. If you use the word "tell"

or "told" in the past, then you have to say "who", "told who". Okay? And then what? Not

like this one. Alright?

So, let's look at another example from the academic world. Professor Brown said the test

was cancelled. Professor Brown said something. Something, the test was cancelled. But Professor

Brown told us the test was cancelled. Now, told someone, us, something, the test was

cancelled. Alright? So, said the test was cancelled or told us the test was cancelled.

That's the difference, but it's a key difference. Alright?

Next, let's look at the world of business. Another example. The manager said to arrive

at 8 o'clock. Said something. But the manager told them to arrive at 8 o'clock. Told someone

something. That's basically it, alright? That's the main difference. That if you say "say",

then just say "say something". Tell someone something.

Now, these are some examples. In the next stage, I'm going to show you how you can use

these words when you're actually quoting what someone said. So, let's have a look at that.

Okay. So now, let's look at what happens when we are including a direct quotation of what

someone said in our sentence. So, the first one. He said I love you. But he told me he

loved me. Okay? So, we have the same principle. Say + something. Tell someone something. Okay?

You see that it works the same way, even when we have the quotation. Let's take another

example. The teacher said no cheating. Of course. The teacher told them not to cheat.

Same principle. Say + something. Tell someone something. Okay?

The next example. The union said we're going to strike. The union told the management they

were going to strike. The union means the labour union, okay? So, we're going to strike

also means we're not going to work, okay? They want more wages, higher wages, better

working conditions, and so on. So, what was the principle here? The union said something

or the union told someone something. Okay? So, as soon as you get that in your mind,

that you say something or tell someone something, then you have understood how to use these

two words. Okay? Alright. So now, let's just do one last quiz to make sure that you've

really got it. Okay? Let's do that.

Okay. So now, let's check these seven sentences. Now, some of these are right and some of these

are wrong, so you help me decide which ones are which. Alright? And remember the rules

that we learned, you say something or you tell someone something. So, keep that in mind

as you're checking these sentences.

Number one. Maria told the flight was delayed. Is that right or wrong? If you need to pause

the video, you can do that. If not, just stay along with me. So, this one is actually wrong.

Why? Because you tell someone something. And here, we have Maria told, and then we don't

have someone. So, you can correct the sentence in two ways. Maria told us the flight was

delayed, or Maria said the flight was delayed. Okay? Alright.

Number two. John said the hotel was full. Is that right or wrong? Well, that one is

correct, because John said something. Said the hotel was full. That one is fine.

Number three. Linda said get well soon. Right or wrong? Linda said something. So, this one

is also correct. Good.

Number four. Jack told to put on the TV. Is that right or wrong? So, told, it should be

tell someone something, but here it was just Jack told, but where's the someone? The someone

is missing, right? So, it could be Jack told me, Jack told us, Jack told them, but you

need someone, okay? So, you could correct this one like that. For example, Jack told

me to put on the TV, but the way it is - the way it was before, it was incorrect.

Number five. We told room service to bring us some champagne. Is that right or wrong?

So, that one is actually correct because told someone. Who's the someone here? Room service.

That's okay. That's a department, but it's still someone, okay? Told someone something,

so that one was fine.

Number six. She told I love ice cream. Is that right or wrong? Well, that one is wrong

because told someone something, right? Where's the someone? So, either you can say she told

me I love ice cream, or you could change it in another way, and you could say she said

I love ice cream. Because now, say something, and this is what - the something that she

said, okay? She said I love ice cream, or she told us she loved ice cream, or something

like that, okay?

And the last one, the client told we had done a good job. Is that right or wrong? What do

you think? By now, I hope you're seeing some patterns, I hope your ear is helping you to

know the answer, the right answer. So, that one is also incorrect because it should be

tell someone something, right? So, it should be the client told us we had done a good job.

Or, the client said we had done a good job, okay? So, I hope this lesson has helped you

to understand the difference between say and tell, but of course, to make sure that you've

mastered it, please go to our website at www.engvid.com. There, you can do a quiz on this to make sure

that you really understood it well, and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel

so you can continue to get new lessons to help you improve your English a little bit

every day.

Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.