Say vs Tell — Easy Practice

Say and tell both involve communicating words, but they follow different grammar patterns. The most important rule is the person test: tell always needs a person after it — you tell someone something: "She told me the answer," "He told his mother the truth." Say does not need a person — you say something: "She said hello," "He said the answer was wrong." If you want to mention a person with "say," you need "to": "She said to me that she was tired."

There are also fixed expressions to learn. With tell: tell the truth, tell a lie, tell a story, tell the time, tell the difference, and tell a joke. With say: say hello, say goodbye, say sorry, say a prayer, say a few words, and say yes or no. A common mistake is writing "He said me" — this is always wrong because "say" never takes a direct person object. Similarly, "She told that she was happy" is wrong because "tell" needs a person: "She told us that she was happy." Practising these patterns helps you avoid errors that are commonly tested in Cambridge A2 Key and B1 Preliminary exams.