Here's the answer: He 'says' SOMETHING He 'tells' SOMEONE SOMETHING The easiest way to think of it is that Tell has a direction: i told him, he told her etc. Hope this helps.

For speech that takes a while, you have to use "tell." "He told me a story" but *never* "He said a story to me." "He told me how to cook the rice" but not "He said to me how to cook the rice." For shorter speech I think you can use either. "He said to me, 'Nice job!'" or "He told me, 'Nice job!'" (Though some English speakers may say the second is less good.)

I can use say or tell when I am repeating exactly what they say to me. Tell can also be used for stories, advice and commands.