Hi Lucas's comments above are a fairly good explanation of the difference between jump and tackle in standard English, so I won't add any more to that. You do normally need a preposition of place. 'jump on/in/onto' However, in non-standard, slang 'to jump someone' has at least two different meanings that are very common, and that you might find in books/TV/films: 1. He jumped me on the way to bank. = He attacked me without warning as I was going to the bank. 2. I want to jump him. = I want have sex with him.

"he jumped me" can't be used like that. When you jump, you jump to a place. e.g. "He/She/I/It jumped." Infers that the jump happened in the same position. "He/She/I/It jumped backwards/forward/on/to/in/onto/into/etc" adds a direction to said jump. There always need a "direction" for a jump. "He jumped •ON• me." So the difference between tackle and jump is: Jump is the act of lauching yourself to the air with the force of your legs; while tackle is throwing your body against someone else or an object, generally with the intent taking it down. Like a american football player or a rugby player taking down the player with the ball, thats a tackle. When you tackle, you tackle someone or something, therefore you can't use it like jump. "He tackled me", "They tackled the player with the ball", "I tackled a tree". It always need an object.