Say or tell?

When do we use say and when do we use tell?

Say / tell
We use: tell + somebody.	I told David about it. Did you tell him? He told me that he was ill.



We use: say + clause. We use: tell + clause when we include a pronoun such as me, him, us, etc.	She said she was ill. She told him she was ill.
We use: say + something + to somebody.	She said hello to me.
We use tell when we are giving facts or information: tell somebody (that) ... tell somebody something tell somebody about something tell somebody who/when/where.	She told me (that) she was ill. She told me the news. Tell me about your new job. He told me where it was.

For a further explanation of say/tell differences, see Stuart’s article Confusing words: say, tell