Tell or Say

Written by me.

• You use these two words mainly in reported speech. You use the word "Tell" when you want to report what one person told you;

e.g Direct Speech

You have to do the homework.

Reported Speech
He told me (that) I had to do my homework.

• You use the word "say" when somebody talks to a group of people and you want to report what that person said:

e.g Direct Speech
We have to do the homework

Reported Speech
He said (that) we had to do the homework.

• The word "that" is optional.

• Look at the different subjects.