Say ,tell ,talk and speak

One of the most common errors that students make is with say, tell, talk and speak.

Talk and speak

The difference is small, and gramatically there is NO difference. That effectively means you cannot make a mistake (except with 'languages'). Talking is usually informal. Speaking is more formal.

The president spoke to the people.

Talking is a two-way conversation whereas speaking is often one-way. This means that one person is speaking and one or more people are listening. For example:

The employees were all talking before the boss began to speak. (Employees - two-way, boss - one-way)

When we speak to people we expect them to listen. He wants to speak to me. Is he angry? Does he want to give me information? He’ll speak and I’ll listen.

Can I talk to you? This is probably an informal situation. We are friends.

Can I speak to you? It is likely that this is formal, or perhaps I am angry!

We talk in the coffee shop. We speak on the telephone. We speak languages. We talk to our friends. What languages do you speak? Are you alright? Do you need to talk? But as I have said, the difference is small. The only time the difference is grammatically important is:

He speaks two languages NOT He talks two languages.

Say and tell

Basically, we tell people and say things.

I said that I was hungry

I told him that I was hungry

He said that he didn’t like the exercise

He told me that he didn’t like the exercise

In this blog, I’m saying various things about these two verbs

I’m telling you about these two verbs

But apart from people, there are other things you can tell. You can tell the truth. You can tell a story. You can tell lies. You can tell the time. And, sometimes, when things are very similar, you can’t tell the difference. Can you tell the difference between say and tell?

Think about it!