The difference between say ,tell and speak
Difference between SAY, TELL, and SPEAK:
+ Tell / Told:
Tell means = to give information to somebody by speaking or writing
tell someone something: 'I told him about it.'
tell something to somebody: 'He told the news to his co-worker.
'Please, tell me your name'
= we usually say who is told (personal object) and what they were told
'I told him...', 'They told us...', 'We told them...'
'He told me ( that ) he was hungry.'
'Mary told me to eat dinner.'
'Our parents told us about it.'
"Tell me about the movie. Did you like it?"
"Peter, I told you not to eat any cookies before dinner!"
"Did you tell Sam about what happened at school today?"
"The police told us that the situation was under control."
"Derek and Melissa told everybody that they were engaged to be married."
"You should tell her what you think about her idea."
"Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone your secret."
+ Say / Said:
With say (present) or said (past), we can use these structures:
say (something)
say that (something)
say (something) to (a person)
“(something)” a person said
Examples:
"Francis says she doesn’t like chocolate."
"I said that the new website design was great."
"What did the teacher say to you when you failed the test?"
"“Nice to meet you,” Harry said."
Structures #1 and #2 are the most common in spoken English.
Don’t make this common mistake!
NO: "He said me that he had to leave."
YES: "He told me that he had to leave."
Both ' SAY ' and ' TELL ' can be used in direct or 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.
+ Speak / Spoke:
Use speak (present) and spoke (past) with languages, and with talking in general (no specific details). We can use speak with (someone) and speak to (someone)
Examples:
"I speak English."
"Does Donna speak Italian?"
I need to speak to you after class.
"We spoke to the boss this morning." (general conversation, no specific details)
"I need to speak with you about the new project." (general topic, no details)
In the case of speak with (someone) and speak to (someone), you can
also say talk to or talk with.
+Talk / Talked
+Talk = It is used about a general topic. It cannot be used to report specific indirect speech.
This verb usually refers to two or more people exchanging or sharing information.
We talked about my big project.
Let's talk about it!
However, you can’t use “talk” with languages:
NO: "I don’t talk Chinese."
YES: "I don’t speak Chinese."
Thanks for reading !!!
