Hay verbos en inglés que nos resultan confusos (especialmente a los hispano hablantes) como say & tell porque son muy parecidos en significado, pero la manera de usarlos es diferente. En este post te lo dejamos claro para que no te confundas más con say & tell.

Donde más problemas solemos tener es cuando usamos el estilo indirecto (o reported speech) porque reproducimos el contenido de un mensaje, vaya, cuando hablamos de una conversación que tuvimos con otra persona: «y yo le dije, entonces él me dijo que ella le había dicho lo que nosotros le dijimos…» y aquí ya tenemos un lio montado, esto es un poco exagerado pero

Vamos a verlo paso a paso:

 He said me that he wasn’t interested in sports.
 He said that he wasn’t interested in sports.
 He said (to me) that he wasn’t interested in sports.
 He told to me that he wasn’t interested in sports.
 He told me that he wasn’t interested in sports.

Utilizamos say con la estructura say something / say that

E.g.
I said hello.
We said goodbye before leaving.
He said that he wasn’t interested in sports.
They said that they needed more time to make a decision.
She said that we should study more.

Si incluimos una persona, utilizamos la estructura say something to someone or say to someone something

E.g.
He said to me that he wasn’t interested in sports.
She said to us that we should study more.
I said to him that he was very generous.

Utilizamos tell con la estructura tell someone something / tell someone that, el verbo tell en este caso siempre necesita un objeto indirecto o pronombre personal (la persona con la que hablamos)

E.g.
She told me the truth.
I told them a joke.
He told me that he wasn’t interested in sports.
They told us that we had to work harder.
I told him that she wasn’t coming.

En todos los ejemplos anteriores hemos utilizado say and tell en pasado pero es posible también usarlos en presente y/o presente continuo

E.g.
She says that I need to do exercise.
Mark says that you have a new job.
He always tells her that they should live together.
They are always telling us that we have to work harder.

Además hay otra estructura que podemos utilizar con tell para indicar una orden o un consejo tell someone to do something

E.g.
She told him to sit down.
He told me (not) to wait.
They told us to work harder.
The teacher told us to do the activities.

Hay una serie de expresiones «fijas» (fixed expressions) que siempre usamos con say

Fixed expressions with say

Say hello / goodbye
Say good morning / afternoon / etc
Say something
Say nothing
Say a word / a few words
Say a prayer

Y también otras que siempre usamos con tell

Fixed expressions with tell

Tell the truth
Tell a lie
Tell a story
Tell a joke
Tell a secret
Tell the time
Tell the difference

Parece mucha información pero en resumen…

You say something or say (to someone) something

E.g.
He said hello to everyone.
He says that he doesn’t like coffee

You tell someone something

E.g.
He told me many lies.
He told me that he doesn’t like coffee.

Y ahora una pequeña prueba para ver si te ha quedado claro:

Completa con say o tell (en pasado)

Angela ____ them to be punctual.
He ____ that we couldn’t wait.
I ____ you to complete the task.
We ____ him that you were ill.
She ____ that you have to help her.
They ____ us many lies.
Anthony ____ that he was hungry.
I ____ nothing to them.
He ____ to her that he wasn’t interested.

VER RESPUESTAS CORRECTAS

Esperamos que después de leer este post ya no te confundas más con say & tell, el secreto es recordar que tell siempre necesita «someone» cuando hablamos de lo que decimos a otra persona.

Hey buddies, hoy toca post de phrasal verbs, I know, they can be hard y no siempre es fácil entenderlos y luego ponerlos en práctica. Hoy nos centramos en los 15 Phrasal verbs con take que ya tendrías que conocer. No worries, si aún no los conoces te los explicamos con significado y ejemplos, uno por uno.

To take after someone – to look like someone, to have a similar appearance or personality- parecerse a alguien

E.g.
Mike takes after his mother; they both have the same blue eyes and blond hair.
Everybody says Beth takes after her grandmother, they have a talent for art.

To take something apart – to disassemble, to separate something into smaller parts- desmontar

E.g.
He’s always taking apart all types of mechanical toys.
I think I should take apart my computer and clean it properly.

To take away something – to separate, to remove – apartar, quitar, llevarse

E.g.
Could you take away this old chair? I don’t want it anymore.
If you don’t study harder, we’ll have to take away your telephone.

To take something back

1) to return something – devolver algo

E.g.
He bought some shoes but they don’t fit. He will ned to take them back.

2) to admit that you did/say something wrong – retirar (algo que has dicho)

E.g.
Sorry for saying those words to you, I take it back.

To take something down

1) to separate something into parts – desmontar

E.g.
After the concert finished, the crew took down the stage.

2) to write on paper – escribir, tomar nota de algo

E.g.
Let me take down your phone number, just in case.

To take someone in – to let someone stay in your house – dejar que alguien se quede en tu casa.

E.g.
He was having a hard time finding an apartment, so we took him in for a month.
You are so nice to take me in, I cannot thank you enough.

To take something in – to assimilate or understand information – comprender o asimilar información.

E.g.
The speaker said interesting things but it was a lot to take in.
I’m reading this manual and I can’t take it in.

To take off

1) to rise in the air (an airplane) – despegar (un avión)

E.g.
The plane will take off in 30 minutes.

2) also to become successful or popular very fast – despegar en sentido figurativo.

E.g.
Recently, their blog has taken off and now they are very popular.
Her career took off when she started working in publicity.

To take something off

1) to remove (clothes) – quitarse (ropa)

E.g.
As soon as I get home I take off my shoes and change my clothes.

2) not to work for a period of time – tener un día/semana libre (sin ir al trabajo)

E.g.
She took a week off to visit her family in France.
I’ll take two days off next week.

To take someone on – to hire someone – contratar a alguien.

E.g.
We need to take on a new cleaning lady.
Our company is taking on more employees next month.

To take something on – to accept some work or responsibility – aceptar/asumir responsabilidades

E.g.
Do you have time to take on a new project?
She took on more tasks in order to get promoted.

To take (it) out on someone – to make someone feel bad, because you are feeling bad too – tomarla con alguien

E.g.
Hey, I understand that you’ve had a horrible day, but don’t take it out on me.
I was stressed and I took it out on him.

To take over something – to take control of something – asumir el control de algo

E.g.
His real intention was to take over the company.
A large holding has taken over our company and there will be some changes.

To take up something

1) to fill space or time – ocupar espacio o tiempo

E.g.
These books are taking up all the space in my room.
This project is taking up more time than I expected.

2) to start doing something regularly – comenzar un nuevo hábito

E.g.
I’ve recently taken up yoga.
Why did you took up golf?

To take somebody up on something – to accept an offer- aceptar una invitación.

E.g.
You’re always welcome to stay with us when you’re in Paris.
Thank you, I’ll take you up on that the next time I come to France.