I have got a joke. Me: Tell/say it to me.

[thehammer]

Hello, in these cases which is preferable?

1- John: I have got a joke. Me: Tell/say it to me.
2- If you love your mom, say/tell it to her.
3- If you have any problems, say them.
4- If you have any problems, tell us.
5- If you have any problems, tell them to us.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello. In these cases sentences, which is preferable - "say" or "tell"?

1- John: I have got a joke. Me: Tell/say it to me.
2- If you love your mom, say/tell it to her.
3- If you have any problems, say them.
4- If you have any problems, tell us.
5- If you have any problems, tell them to us.

We don't just hand out answers here. Which one do you think is correct in each sentence?

 

[thehammer]

We don't just hand out answers here. Which one do you think is correct in each sentence?

In 1 both. In 2 both. 3 and 4 both sound natural. I am not sure about 5.

 

[Barque]

I'm afraid not.

1- John: I have got a joke.
Me: Tell me. (Or "What's it?" or "Go on.")

2- If you love your mom, tell her.

3- If you have any problems, tell me.

4- If you have any problems, tell us.

5- As above.

 

[Skrej]

As a general rule, you say something, but tell someone something. Another way of viewing this is that 'tell' usually requires an indirect object (see exceptions below).
John said it was snowing.
Tell Mark the good news.

It is also possible to say something to someone, but this isn't used quite as much as the first two options.
John said to Susan that he was tired

Hello, in these cases which is preferable?

1- John: I have got a joke. Me: Tell/say it to me. Use 'tell', because we *'tell' jokes. See below about exceptions. Alternately, just 'tell me'.
2- If you love your mom, say/tell it to her. Under the rule above, you could either tell her, or say it to her.
3- If you have any problems, say them. Grammatically possible, but more natural would be to 'tell someone'
4- If you have any problems, tell us. The more natural version of the sentence above.
5- If you have any problems, tell them to us. Tell us.

There are some exceptions and set phrases - for example we can *tell a joke, tell time, tell a lie, tell secrets, tell the truth/a lie, tell the future, and tell a story, without including that someone (indirect object).

 

[Tarheel]

Bob: I have a joke. Do you want to hear it?
Jane: No, your jokes aren't usually very funny.
Bob: Oh come on! You'll like this one.
Jane: Okay, tell me the joke.
Bob: This guy goes to the doctor. The doctor says, "You need an operation." The guy says, "I want a second opinion." So the doctor says, "You need an operation."
Jane: Ha ha!