Speaker 1: I saw one of my old students the other day.
I was like, how's it going, and he goes, I
finally found a new job, and I go, that's awesome,
and he was like, yeah, I finally got a job
using English. And I was like, that's really fabulous.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight seventy six.
Using say tell was like and go, thanks for tuning
in and welcome back to the Happy English Podcast. So
let me ask you. Have you ever got stuck trying
to figure out when to use say and when to
use tell to talk about what someone said. These words
seem really similar, but they're used in different ways. So
today let's break it down nice and easy with some
everyday examples, and then I'm going to show you two
other more natural ways to talk about what someone said
that are not found in most textbooks. Let's dive in.
First up is say. We usually use say when we're
quoting someone or focusing on the words they used. For example,
the other day, my friend looked outside and she said
these words, Wow, it's going to rain. She said it.
That's the quote. Or if you didn't hear me clearly,
you might ask what did you say? See. With say,
we don't really focus on who heard it, just the
words themselves. But using say in a conversation can be tricky,
especially when you're reporting what someone else said. Let me
show you what I mean. I saw Jack today. He
said I need to go on a diet. That's a
direct quote, exactly the words Jack used. I need to
go on a diet. And I can write that quote
down and it'll be clear to the reader. But when
I tell another person what Jack said, I have to
change the pronoun. I can't say Jack said I need
to go on a diet. That sounds strange. That sounds
like I, Michael, I am the person who needs a diet,
and maybe I do. But that's a different story. So
I need to match it to Jack. Jack said he
needs to go on a diet. So when you're reporting
speech with say, watch out for the pronouns. My neighbor said,
I went to a new cafe that opened downtown. But
when I tell you what she said, I use. My
neighbor said she went to a new cafe that opened downtown.
And you'll notice that when I use say or said,
I'm mentioning the words someone used, not who they talked to.
When you want to or need to mention the listener,
you have to use tell. Like my neighbor told me
about a new cafe that opened downtown. She didn't just
say it out of her window to the whole place.
She told me. That's the difference between say and tell.
Tell always needs the listener. She told me, I told her,
he told us, and so on. So the pattern is
tell someone something like she told me a funny story,
or can you tell him the meeting is at three?
Or he told us he was moving to California. And
just like with say, you need to pay attention to
the pronouns in tenses. For example, if my friend said
I got a new job, I can report it like this,
My and told me he got a new job. So
we use tell when we mentioned the listener, and we
use say when we mentioned the words they used. My
neighbor said she went to that new cafe. She told
me that it was nice. Okay, now that you know that,
you might want to know this. In everyday conversational English,
there are actually two other verbs that you can use
when you talk about what someone said. The first one
is be like or in the past tense. Was like,
we use be like when we want to describe a
conversation that we had with someone to another person. I'm
going to show you two versions of the same First,
the textbook way here it is yesterday, I saw my neighbor.
I said what's up? And she said, I went to
that new cafe in town. And then I said how
was it? And she said it was awesome. This is
probably a style of speaking that you learned in a
textbook somewhere. Now here's an example of that same conversation
with my neighbor. Using was like, yesterday, I saw my neighbor.
I was like, what's up? And she was like, I
went to that new cafe in town. Then I was like,
how was it? And she was like it was awesome?
Using was like in this way makes you sound more
natural and more casual. Here's another example. Jack came to
late this morning. The boss was like, why are you late?
And Jack was like because there was traffic, And the
boss was like, there's traffic every day. And Jack was like, oh,
you were late too, And the boss was like, if
you come late again, you're fired. Wow. That boss doesn't
have a sense of humor. The other conversational style of
reporting speech is with using go. We use go instead
of said. The interesting thing here is that we tend
to use go in the present tense. So you have
to remember, I go, she goes, and he goes. Let's
look at that conversation with the boss using go. Jack
came to work late this morning. The boss goes, why
are you late? And Jack goes because there was traffic,
And the boss goes, there's traffic every day. And Jack goes, oh,
you were late too, and the boss goes, if you
come late again, you're fired. And notice again that this
story is about something that happened in the past. It
happened this morning, but when I tell you about it,
I use the present tents. The boss goes, Jack goes.
Like that, Native English speakers tend to use the present
tents in storytelling to make the story sound more real
and alive. Here's one more example of the story of
me and my neighbor using go. Yesterday, I saw my neighbor,
so I go, what's up? And she goes, I went
to that new cafe in town. Then I go how
was it? And she goes, it was awesome again. This
is how we use was like and goes in conversational
English for reported speech. It's casual, friendly, and a natural
way you can tell someone about a conversation you had
or heard. So try using one or two of these
phrases today when you speak English. Thanks for listening, and hey,
if you want to practice this kind of language with
me and a group of other awesome English learners, come
check out my podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet once
a week and practice the language from these podcasts lessons together.
It's a great way to build confidence and improve your speaking.
Just check the link where you are listening to this
podcast right now, or visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose Podcasts episode eight seventy six for more information. And remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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