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Speaker 1: I saw one of my old students the other day.

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I was like, how's it going, and he goes, I

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finally found a new job, and I go, that's awesome,

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and he was like, yeah, I finally got a job

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using English. And I was like, that's really fabulous.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight seventy six.

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Using say tell was like and go, thanks for tuning

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in and welcome back to the Happy English Podcast. So

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let me ask you. Have you ever got stuck trying

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to figure out when to use say and when to

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use tell to talk about what someone said. These words

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seem really similar, but they're used in different ways. So

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today let's break it down nice and easy with some

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everyday examples, and then I'm going to show you two

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other more natural ways to talk about what someone said

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that are not found in most textbooks. Let's dive in.

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First up is say. We usually use say when we're

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quoting someone or focusing on the words they used. For example,

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the other day, my friend looked outside and she said

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these words, Wow, it's going to rain. She said it.

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That's the quote. Or if you didn't hear me clearly,

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you might ask what did you say? See. With say,

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we don't really focus on who heard it, just the

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words themselves. But using say in a conversation can be tricky,

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especially when you're reporting what someone else said. Let me

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show you what I mean. I saw Jack today. He

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said I need to go on a diet. That's a

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direct quote, exactly the words Jack used. I need to

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go on a diet. And I can write that quote

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down and it'll be clear to the reader. But when

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I tell another person what Jack said, I have to

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change the pronoun. I can't say Jack said I need

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to go on a diet. That sounds strange. That sounds

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like I, Michael, I am the person who needs a diet,

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and maybe I do. But that's a different story. So

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I need to match it to Jack. Jack said he

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needs to go on a diet. So when you're reporting

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speech with say, watch out for the pronouns. My neighbor said,

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I went to a new cafe that opened downtown. But

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when I tell you what she said, I use. My

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neighbor said she went to a new cafe that opened downtown.

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And you'll notice that when I use say or said,

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I'm mentioning the words someone used, not who they talked to.

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When you want to or need to mention the listener,

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you have to use tell. Like my neighbor told me

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about a new cafe that opened downtown. She didn't just

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say it out of her window to the whole place.

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She told me. That's the difference between say and tell.

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Tell always needs the listener. She told me, I told her,

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he told us, and so on. So the pattern is

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tell someone something like she told me a funny story,

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or can you tell him the meeting is at three?

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Or he told us he was moving to California. And

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just like with say, you need to pay attention to

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the pronouns in tenses. For example, if my friend said

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I got a new job, I can report it like this,

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My and told me he got a new job. So

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we use tell when we mentioned the listener, and we

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use say when we mentioned the words they used. My

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neighbor said she went to that new cafe. She told

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me that it was nice. Okay, now that you know that,

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you might want to know this. In everyday conversational English,

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there are actually two other verbs that you can use

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when you talk about what someone said. The first one

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is be like or in the past tense. Was like,

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we use be like when we want to describe a

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conversation that we had with someone to another person. I'm

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going to show you two versions of the same First,

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the textbook way here it is yesterday, I saw my neighbor.

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I said what's up? And she said, I went to

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that new cafe in town. And then I said how

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was it? And she said it was awesome. This is

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probably a style of speaking that you learned in a

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textbook somewhere. Now here's an example of that same conversation

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with my neighbor. Using was like, yesterday, I saw my neighbor.

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I was like, what's up? And she was like, I

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went to that new cafe in town. Then I was like,

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how was it? And she was like it was awesome?

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Using was like in this way makes you sound more

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natural and more casual. Here's another example. Jack came to

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late this morning. The boss was like, why are you late?

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And Jack was like because there was traffic, And the

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boss was like, there's traffic every day. And Jack was like, oh,

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you were late too, And the boss was like, if

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you come late again, you're fired. Wow. That boss doesn't

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have a sense of humor. The other conversational style of

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reporting speech is with using go. We use go instead

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of said. The interesting thing here is that we tend

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to use go in the present tense. So you have

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to remember, I go, she goes, and he goes. Let's

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look at that conversation with the boss using go. Jack

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came to work late this morning. The boss goes, why

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are you late? And Jack goes because there was traffic,

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And the boss goes, there's traffic every day. And Jack goes, oh,

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you were late too, and the boss goes, if you

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come late again, you're fired. And notice again that this

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story is about something that happened in the past. It

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happened this morning, but when I tell you about it,

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I use the present tents. The boss goes, Jack goes.

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Like that, Native English speakers tend to use the present

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tents in storytelling to make the story sound more real

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and alive. Here's one more example of the story of

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me and my neighbor using go. Yesterday, I saw my neighbor,

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so I go, what's up? And she goes, I went

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to that new cafe in town. Then I go how

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was it? And she goes, it was awesome again. This

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is how we use was like and goes in conversational

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English for reported speech. It's casual, friendly, and a natural

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way you can tell someone about a conversation you had

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or heard. So try using one or two of these

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phrases today when you speak English. Thanks for listening, and hey,

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if you want to practice this kind of language with

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me and a group of other awesome English learners, come

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check out my podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet once

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a week and practice the language from these podcasts lessons together.

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It's a great way to build confidence and improve your speaking.

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Just check the link where you are listening to this

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podcast right now, or visit Myhappy English dot com and

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choose Podcasts episode eight seventy six for more information. And remember,

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learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,

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and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy

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