¿Say or Tell?

[Marcela]

Say or Tell?
Say and tell have similar meanings: to communicate verbally with
someone. But we often use them differently.
The simple way to think of say and tell is:
You say something
You tell someone something

Phrases
Here are a few fixed phrases with tell. We cannot use say with these
phrases:
tell (someone) a story - tell (someone) a lie - tell (someone) the
truth
tell the future (= to know what the future will bring) - tell the
time (= know how to read a clock)

We cannot...
say someone to do something
(Wrong) Tara said Jo to go away. (Right) Tara told Jo to go away.

say someone something
(Wrong) Mary said me that she was hungry. (Right)Mary told me that she
was hungry.

tell something
(Wrong) He told that he likes coffee. (Right) He said that he likes
coffee.

tell to someone
(Wrong) Janine told to me that she was coming. (Right) Janine told me
that she was coming.