Say、Tell、Speak 和 Talk：没人讲清楚的那点区别

1问题出在语法，不在词义

多数词汇混淆都是词义问题：两个词意思接近，你得学会那点细微差别。这一组不是。say、tell、speak、talk 的意思大体相同，难点完全在结构上。

“He said me the truth”之所以错，不是因为 said 和 told 意思不同，而是因为 say 不能直接带人作宾语。意思一清二楚，只是这个句子没有按英语的搭法搭起来。这也是为什么在这里从母语直译一定失败——意思传过来了，结构没有。

• say + something (to someone) — He said hello. She said something to me.
• tell + someone (+ something) — He told me. She told me the news.
• speak (to someone) (about something) — I spoke to her about it.
• talk (to someone) (about something) — We talked about the plan.

Tip: 如果你只改一件事，就改“人”的位置。tell 直接带人；say 要带人得先加 to。光这一条就能消掉这一领域里的大部分错误。

2Tell 需要一个人，say 不需要

这是整个话题的核心，值得说得直白一点，因为几乎所有错误都出在这里。

• He told me the answer. — correct, person straight after tell
• He said me the answer. — wrong
• He said the answer to me. — correct, to before the person
• She told that she was tired. — wrong, tell needs a person
• She said that she was tired. — correct
• She told me that she was tired. — correct

注意第二组。“She told that she was tired”出错，不是因为 told 用错了词，而是因为 tell 没有它的人。tell 几乎总是需要知道“告诉了谁”；而 say 除非加 to，否则几乎不提这个人。

Tip: 一个好用的记忆钩子：你 TELL 一个人，你 SAY 一件事。后面紧跟的是人，就用 tell。

3Say 说什么，tell 告诉谁：一句话的规则

上面的规则可以压缩成一句短到能在说话中途想起来的话——而这正是开口时真正需要的。

拿几个句子试一下就知道它成立：say hello（事）、tell me（人）、say something（事）、tell your brother（人）、say a few words（事）、tell the children（人）。这个测试用不了一秒钟，对日常用法很可靠。

• Can you say that again? — thing follows
• Can you tell me again? — person follows
• He said nothing. — thing
• He told nobody. — person
• Say your name. — thing
• Tell them your name. — person, then thing

注意 tell 可以两个都带：tell + 人 + 事。“She told me the story.”say 做不到这一点——“She said me the story”根本不成立。tell 是那个能容纳两个宾语的动词。

Tip: 说话时一旦感觉自己要脱口而出“said me”，补救办法要么是 told me，要么是 said to me。两个都对，哪个先冒出来就用哪个。

4Speak 和 talk：几乎可以互换，但并不完全

这两个词比 say 和 tell 宽容得多。在多数句子里互换都不算错，区别在语体而不在语法。

talk 是日常口语的选择，暗示双向的交流。speak 稍正式一些，可以暗示单向，或者场合更严肃。“Can I talk to you?”是朋友之间的普通请求；“Can I speak to you?”是你对上司说的话，或者打电话时说的。

• We talked for hours. — casual conversation
• She spoke at the conference. — formal, one direction
• Can I speak to Mr Miller, please? — telephone standard
• I need to talk to you about something. — everyday
• He speaks very quietly. — manner of speaking
• Stop talking! — never "stop speaking" in a classroom

Tip: 如果拿不准哪个更合适：对话中用 talk 更保险，书面语和电话里用 speak 更保险。

5Speak 用于语言和正式场合

speak 有几项 talk 干不了的活，而它们对语言学习者来说天天用得上。

• speak your mind — say what you really think
• speak up — talk louder, or state an opinion
• so to speak — a way of softening a metaphor
• generally speaking — a common opener in writing
• talk sense / talk nonsense — fixed with talk, not speak
• talk shop — discuss work outside work

Tip: 语言、正式场合和电话用 speak，其余一律用 talk。这基本覆盖了你会遇到的所有真实情境。

6Say 的固定搭配

这几个动词的用法里，有相当一部分被锁在不讲规则的固定表达中。它们只能作为整体记下来。

• say hello / goodbye / good morning
• say yes / no
• say a word — He didn't say a word
• say something / nothing / anything
• say a prayer
• say sorry
• say please and thank you
• say what you mean
• needless to say
• having said that — a very common linking phrase
• that is to say — in other words
• it goes without saying

注意这些后面跟的都是“事”而不是“人”，与 say what 的规则一致。这些固定搭配不是例外，而是同一条规则套在固定内容上的结果。

Tip: having said that 值得主动去用，而不只是被动认得。它是英语口语里最有用的语篇标记之一，用它引出一个转折的观点，会让你听起来明显更流利。

7Tell 的固定搭配

tell 有自己的一套固定说法，而这里正是“后面接人”的规则看起来被打破的地方——所以值得明确列出来。

• tell the truth — He never tells the truth
• tell a lie — Don't tell lies
• tell a story / a joke
• tell the time — Can he tell the time yet?
• tell the difference — I can't tell the difference
• tell someone off — scold them
• tell someone apart — distinguish two people
• to tell you the truth — a spoken filler
• I told you so
• you never can tell — you never know

在 tell the truth、tell a lie 和 tell a story 里，宾语是事而不是人，这与主规则相抵触。把它们当作背下来的整体。除了这份清单之外，tell 依然需要它的人。

这里有两条的含义与“说话”无关。tell the difference 和 you never can tell 都表示“分辨”或“知道”，完全不涉及开口。“I can't tell the difference between them”跟说话没有任何关系。

Tip: to tell you the truth 和 having said that 是第六、七两节里价值最高的两个短语。两个在口语中都极其常见，用起来也都不难。

8介词：to、with、about 和 of

动词选对之后，紧接着最容易出错的地方就是后面的介词。

• say something TO someone — He said it to me
• tell someone — no preposition at all
• speak TO someone — the standard in British English
• speak WITH someone — more common in American English, slightly more mutual
• talk TO someone — the everyday form
• talk WITH someone — suggests a two-way discussion
• talk ABOUT something — the topic
• speak ABOUT something — the topic, more formal
• tell someone ABOUT something — She told me about the trip
• speak OF someone — formal, often in fixed phrases

to 和 with 的区别值得说一句。“Talk to”可以暗示一方说得更多，而“talk with”暗示真正的双向交流。实际使用中，英国人两种情形都用 to，美国人用 with 更自由。两者都不算错。

Tip: 这里有个有用的不对称：say 和 tell 的区别在于带不带 to，而 speak 和 talk 都带 to。只要记住 tell 是那个特殊的，大部分介词错误就消失了。

9在间接引语里

转述别人说的话，是这几个动词出现最密集的地方，而 say 和 tell 之间的取舍遵循的还是你已经知道的那条规则。

• She said she would call. — no person mentioned
• She told me she would call. — person mentioned
• He said to me that it was fine. — correct but slightly formal
• They told us the meeting was cancelled. — natural
• They said us the meeting was cancelled. — wrong

表达指令和请求时，tell 后面接不定式：“She told me to wait.”say 做不到——“She said me to wait”是错的，“She said to wait”则很别扭。表达命令，tell someone to do something 是标准结构；更客气的替代是 ask someone to do something。

say 和 tell 都不能用来转述问句，要用 ask：“He asked me where I lived”，而不是“He told me where I lived”——除非他是在回答而不是在提问。

Tip: 间接引语是这些错误在考试中真正扣分的地方，因为句子更长，人很容易被漏掉。如果你在备考雅思或 CELPIP 写作，请专门练 tell + 人 + that。

10为什么有些母语的人觉得更难

你会不会觉得这一块难，很大程度上可以从你的母语预测出来；而知道原因，就更容易抓住自己的错误。

Tip: 最快的解决办法是替换操练，而不是背规则：大声说十个以“She told me…”开头的句子，再说十个以“She said…”开头的。你训练的是语序，而语序只对开口说话有反应。

11三十个句子，逐句改错

先遮住右边，自己改一遍再看答案。这些是真实学习者英语中最常出现的错误。

• He said me the truth → He told me the truth
• She told that she was late → She said that she was late
• He told to me about it → He told me about it
• Can you say me your name? → Can you tell me your name?
• I talked him yesterday → I talked to him yesterday
• I speak English and French → correct as written
• I talk English → I speak English
• She said me to wait → She told me to wait
• He didn't tell anything → He didn't say anything
• Tell me the difference → correct as written
• He said a lie → He told a lie
• She told hello → She said hello
• Can I talk to Mr Miller, please? (on the phone) → Can I speak to Mr Miller, please?
• He told me sorry → He said sorry
• They said us the news → They told us the news
• Let me say you something → Let me tell you something
• I want to speak you → I want to speak to you
• She told a joke to the class → correct as written
• He said nothing to nobody → He didn't say anything to anyone
• Tell an information about the course → Give me some information about the course
• My son can't say the time yet → My son can't tell the time yet
• I spoke with her about the report → correct as written
• He said me that he would come → He told me that he would come
• She talked about me the problem → She talked to me about the problem
• Please say the truth → Please tell the truth
• He told me off for being late → correct as written
• Generally speaking, it works well → correct as written
• I can't say the twins apart → I can't tell the twins apart
• She said to the audience for an hour → She spoke to the audience for an hour
• To say you the truth, I forgot → To tell you the truth, I forgot

Tip: 其中有五句本来就是对的。如果你把它们改了，说明你在过度纠正——规则你有了，语感还没有。

12用真实对话把它改过来

这条规则不是靠读能装进脑子里的。它是语序，而语序活在“产出”里，不在“看懂”里。

你需要的是对话——访谈、情景喜剧、播客里的闲聊，任何两个人来回说话的内容。间接引语和这四个动词在对话里频繁出现，在旁白里几乎不出现，所以选材要相应地挑。

听力还会顺带把搭配送给你。你会把“tell you the truth”“having said that”“speaking of which”整块吸收进来，而这正是母语者存储它们的方式。作为整体学会的短语，永远不需要在压力下临时拼装。

• 找一段对话，而不是独白——访谈和情景喜剧效果最好
• 每听到一次 tell，记下被告知的是谁；每听到一次 say，记下有没有出现 to
• 把固定搭配整块收集起来，绝不要拆成单词
• 保存完整的句子，因为要学的模式就是动词周围的语序
• 用一次 told me 和一次 said，把其中一段对话大声复述出来

Tip: FlexiLingo 为 YouTube 和播客加上可交互字幕，点任意单词就能看到词义和 CEFR 等级，并连同它所在的句子一起保存——这在这里必不可少，因为孤零零的动词完全教不了你它后面该跟什么。