Shadowing Practice: 5 Confusing English Verbs: SAY, TELL, ASK, SPEAK, TALK - Learn English Speaking with Video

And in today's video, we are going to look at some words that are so confusing.

We're going to look at the words say, tell, talk, speak, and ask.

So all of these words mean to use words.

Okay?

So right now I am talking.

But there are differences in the grammar of how we use these words.

And also there are some differences in their meanings or when we use each of these words.

So if you're someone who confuses these words, that's okay.

Today I will help you with this.

So let's get started.

The first word we will look at today is say.

Say is important.

Many students make mistakes with the word say and the grammar of say.

We will look at some mistakes in a moment, but first let's look at the definition.

So say we use when we're describing words.

I've written this here, no person is needed for this.

What I mean is for tell, you need a person.

I tell him something.

For say, you do not need a person.

I will explain this in a moment.

But the focus for say is on the words.

What words did he or she say?

So let's look at some examples.

So here is a woman.

She says, good morning.

These are her words good morning.

So we can say she says good morning.

So notice we don't have a person here, we just have the words.

What were her words?

Her words were good morning.

This is the focus.

Hello.

I say hello.

When I finish my videos, I say take care.

So those are the words I use.

So, we use say in this example.

Sometimes in a conversation, you might want to know what the words of someone were.

You can say, what did he say?

What did she say?

What did you say?

It means what words were used.

And this is very important the past tense of say is said.

She says good morning.

Yesterday she said good morning.

We use said when we talk about the words in the past

and we use say when we're talking about the words now.

So this is probably the number one mistake I see with the word say or said.

I said him something.

I said him the answer.

I said him hi.

I said her goodbye.

So why is this wrong, it's this, this is the problem.

With said, you don't need a person.

I said the answer.

Okay, so we can use a person with the word tell or told if you're talking in the past tense.

I told him the answer.

So this is a common mistake, a common way people confuse these words.

If you're using a person, use tell.

But if there's.. you're focusing on the words, you can use said.

Let's look at another example.

I said him a question.

So what's wrong with here?

It's the same problem as up here.

It's this word, him, her, Bob, Mary.

There should not be a person here.

And the other issue with this is the word question.

So usually when we're talking about questions, we use the word ask.

I asked a question.

I asked where the bathroom is.

So for questions, we often use the word ask.

So just remember, and we'll look at each of, we'll look at tell and ask in a moment

but just remember for say

or said it's really about the words that's what the focus is on what words did we use

Our next word is tell.

So say and tell are the words I think learners of English confuse the most.

They confuse the grammar and the meaning.

So tell means that you're telling a person or people some information.

You need both of these things in your sentence if you use tell.

You need the person and you need the information.

So, the focus is on who.

Who are you giving the information to?

So, if you think about it, we tell someone something.

Let's look at some examples.

I can tell you the answer.

So, we have tell.

Who's the someone?

It's you.

The something is the answer.

So, we have those three parts.

Tell someone something.

Tell me a story.

Kids love to say this to their parents.

Tell me a story.

So again, we have the word tell.

What comes next is the word me.

So we could put a different word here.

We can put you, he, she, Bob, doesn't matter.

A story is the something.

Tell me a story.

100

Tell me a story.

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Okay, let's look at another example.

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Tell him I am mad.

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Tell who?

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Him?

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What?

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I am mad.

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So you see you need these three parts when you use tell.

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What is the past tense of tell?

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So if we're talking about the past like yesterday, last year, in 1947.

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When we talk about the past, we would use the word told.

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I told you already, for example.

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I told you to come.

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So again, we have the same pattern.

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Tell or told.

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Who are we talking to?

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In this case, you.

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And then what or what's that something? To come.

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So if you can remember, you need these three things for tell, this will really help you.

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Now let's look at some common mistakes with the word tell.

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I told hello.

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I told goodbye.

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I told information.

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What's the mistake here?

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The mistake is we don't have a person.

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We need the who.

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Who gets this information?

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So there's no person here, so that's why it's wrong.

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So you could, if you just want to say the word, you could just use say or said.

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I said hello.

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So this is correct because you're only using the word.

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So this is a good example of the difference between tell or told and say and said.

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For say, said, you're focusing on the words.

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For tell or told, you're focusing on who, on the person.

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Who are you giving the information to?

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So if we wanted to keep hello, we could also do one other thing.

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We could say, I told hello.

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So you can add a person here.

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So we can say, I told her hello.

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I told him hello.

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I told my friend hello.

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So that's okay, because now you have a person.

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That's what you need for tell or told.

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Let's look at another example of a mistake.

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I tell that every day.

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What's the mistake here?

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Do you see the who or the person in this sentence?

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No, we're missing a person, so that's why this is wrong.

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But what if we add a person?

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I tell my boss that every day.

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Okay, now we have the person, so we can use tell.

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Or if we don't want to use the person, we can use say.

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I say that every day.

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So that represents the words somebody's using.

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So you can say, I say hello every day.

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I say please do your homework every day to my students.

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So this is again a good example of the difference

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when you use say with just the words or use tell with a person.

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The next word we're going to look at today is the word speak.

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We use speak more in formal situations or when we're talking about languages specifically.

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So, for example, here's an example of a language.

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This is not true, but I could say I speak Italian.

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So, I wouldn't use say.

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I wouldn't say I say Italian.

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I tell Italian.

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I talk Italian.

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No, I would use speak.

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we use speak with languages do you speak other languages we can also use this for formal situations

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so for example my boss is speaking to me i could also use the word talk

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but speak is more formal so speak plus a language or speak to and with someone when we're in a formal situation

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So one thing I wanted to say about this is when you speak in this situation,

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you need to follow it with either the word to or with the word with.

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So you have a choice and you need to use it with someone.

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So I speak three languages as an example of this.

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I need to speak to the CEO.

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I need to speak with the CEO.

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So we could use either of those.

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So in terms of speak, what's the past tense of speak?

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A lot of students don't know this one, but it's a good one to know.

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The past tense of speak is spoke.

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So we have this O here, spoke. So here's an example.

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I spoke to my professor.

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I could also say I spoke with my professor.

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And if I wanted to talk about the topic, I could say I spoke to my professor about my homework.

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I spoke with my professor about my homework.

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So that's how we use the word speak.

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So, let's look at common mistakes with speak and spoke.

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What's the mistake here?

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I speak him.

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The mistake here is that this is different from tell.

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You need this word. Or the word with.

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So, you can say I speak to him.

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I speak with him.

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Both of those would be correct.

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What's the problem with this?

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I speak high.

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Well, in this case, a better thing to say would be say, because remember, we use say with words.

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So speak, we're not just using words, we usually speak to someone.

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So in this case, because we're just talking about words we would use say.

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I say hi.

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Okay, we mentioned languages.

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I talk six languages.

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There's a mistake here.

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The mistake is in English we usually use the word speak when we're talking about languages specifically.

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I speak eight languages.

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I speak one language.

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One way to practice this is in the comments you can tell us how many languages do you speak

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and what languages are they.

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So write that in the comments below and don't forget to use the correct word here, speak.

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The next word is ask.

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It's a little bit of a difficult word to pronounce.

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We use ask when we're talking about questions.

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So the focus is on getting information.

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We often get information by asking questions.

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So we usually use this pattern, ask someone for something.

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So, for example, I ask her a question.

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So, we have here the person.

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He asks me for help.

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So, you can also ask for favors or for help.

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That's a common way we use this.

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The past tense of ask, a lot of people have trouble with the pronunciation of this.

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asked.

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So this may or may not help you.

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I asked, I asked.

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So the ED actually sounds like a T.

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Asked, and it's one syllable.

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I hear a lot of students say ask, asked.

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That's not how we pronounce it.

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We pronounce it asked.

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So past tense of ask is asks.

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Oh, now I'm having trouble.

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I asked a question in the meeting.

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So that's an example of ask in the past tense.

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So now let's look at common mistakes.

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We've already talked about pronunciation.

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Let's look at some common grammar mistakes with this.

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I said him a question.

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What's the problem here?

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Well, the main problem is that you're using said with a person here, I said him.

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So you wouldn't say that.

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You could say I said a question, but again, usually with the word question, we use ask.

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I asked him a question.

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So that's much better.

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You could also, if you don't want to talk about who, you could say I asked a question.

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That's fine too.

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So I asked him a question.

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I asked a question.

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Both of these are okay.

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Talk is what we're looking at next.

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We use talk when we're really talking about a conversation.

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So it's not just a word, it's something more than a word.

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So when you have a conversation with someone you can use talk you can talk to someone

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or you can talk with someone both of these are fine

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but you need to remember a preposition here to or with and then if you want you can

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add what the subject is you talked to someone about something

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so for example last night I talked to my sister Audra about a movie I saw.

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So that means we had a conversation about a movie.

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So talk is like speak, but speak is more formal.

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And talk is used more for everyday conversation.

259

So speak might be something I might write in a formal situation, Whereas talk, you know, I talk to my friends, I talk to my mom,

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I talk to my teacher.

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So we use it more in everyday general conversation. So here's an example.

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I talk to my friend about my problems.

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I talk to my friend about work.

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I talk to my friend about my family.

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Just some examples.

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So the past tense of talk is talked.

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There's an ed, but we pronounce it like a t sound.

268

So I'll just put a little t here.

269

Just like asked, talked.

270

So a lot of students will say talked.

271

And they'll use two syllables, talked.

272

But the correct pronunciation is talked with a t at the end.

273

All right, so I talked to my friend about the movie.

274

Let's look at some common mistakes people make with talk.

275

There's a problem with the first sentence.

276

We talk my brother about travel.

277

What's the mistake?

278

Well, we forgot the word to or with.

279

When we use the word talk, we need to use to or with with a person.

280

So, you can say we talk to my brother about travel or we talk with my brother about travel.

281

Okay, what about the next sentence?

282

What's the issue here?

283

We talked goodnight.

284

Well, goodnight is a word.

285

It's not a conversation.

286

A conversation you need to have like a back and forth, you're talking back and forth to each other.

287

Goodnight's just a word.

288

So it's better to use the word said.

289

We said goodnight.

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Okay, what about the third example?

291

How do you talk hello in French?

292

How do you talk hello in French?

293

Is this correct?

294

No. what we really want to say is how do you say hello in French? So again...

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we're using the word say

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because we're talking about the words we're not talking about a conversation

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so talk is for conversations where you're talking about a subject say we're using

298

when we're talking about words what was a person's words that's what the focus is on all right so So,

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to summarize what we talked about, there are many words that confuse learners of English.

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Say, tell, ask, talk, and speak all have similar meanings but are a little bit different.

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So, say we use for words.

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I say hello or I said hello.

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So, tell, we tell a person something.

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I tell my mom I love her.

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That's an example.

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Ask.

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Ask we usually use for questions.

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I asked a question.

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Talk is usually used for conversation.

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So, you talk to someone about something.

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And then speak is like talk, but it's a little bit more formal.

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Or we can use it for languages.

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I speak English.

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I speak Mandarin.

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I speak French, just to give some examples. So, it's hard.

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English is hard.

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I agree.

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We have a lot of words that mean very similar things, but are slightly different.

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But these are words we use very, very frequently.

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So it's a good idea to practice, to really learn these words.

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And one way you can do that is visit our website at www .engvid .com.

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And there you can take a quiz to practice the words we covered today.

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You can also check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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We have a lot of different videos on many topics related to grammar, English, everyday conversation, and so much more.

325

So thank you so much for watching.

326

Until next time, take care.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “5 Confusing English Verbs: SAY, TELL, ASK, SPEAK, TALK”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, speak, example, mistake, language. This video has 326 sentences and 2692 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:08. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tense noun	/tɛns/	The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
confuse verb	/kənˈfjuːz/	to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
grammar noun	/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/	A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
pronounce verb	/pɹəˈnaʊns/	To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.
pronunciation noun	/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.
homework noun	/ˈhoʊmˌwɝk/	Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student which review concepts studied in class.
learner noun	/ˈlɜɹnəɹ/	One who is learning; one receiving instruction.
syllable noun	/ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/	A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
goodbye	/ɡʊdˈbaɪ/	Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing.
preposition noun	/ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/	Any of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense…
summarize verb	/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/	To prepare a summary of (something).
quiz noun	/kwɪz/	A competition in the answering of questions.
subscribe verb	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
talk back verb	To reply impertinently or rudely; to answer in a cheeky or rude manner.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

You can say, what did he say?
What did you say?
With said, you don't need a person.
Who are you giving the information to?
Who are we talking to?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is needed · is said · is talked
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've written · We've already talked
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might want · may not help · might be
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	am talking · we're describing · we're talking

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 49 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tense, confuse, grammar.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?