Actually, both are wrong. The nurse told me I was in the hospital. You forgot 'the'. tell = communicate information, facts, or news to someone in spoken or written words. say = utter words so as to convey information, an opinion, a feeling or intention, or an instruction.

Both sentences are fine, Carmen. You can say 'that' or you can miss it out. Both sentences are equally correct. You could also say 'The nurse said I was in hospital' or 'The nurse said that I was in hospital'. The meaning is the same, but when we focus on the act of giving information to a particular person, we use 'tell' followed by the indirect object - in this case 'told me'. As for the use or non-use of the definite article, the expression 'in hospital' is absolutely correct. If a person is 'in hospital' it means that they have been admitted to a hospital ward as a patient. American English does not make this distinction. I hope that helps.

Both sentences are correct in terms of using with or without "that". And you can use "say" instead of "tell" too, but the grammar would differ. For example: The nurse said (that) .... and The nurse told "me" (that)...

Tell (verb): communicate information to someone in spoken or written words. Similar to "inform" or "disclose". Say (verb): utter words so as to convey information, an opinion, a feeling or intention, or an instruction. Similar to "voice" or "speak". Both sentences are correct. "That" is optional in this case. Unlike what John said, you don't need "the". "The nurse told me I was in the hospital" - quantifies which hospital (it's specific). "The nurse told me I was in hospital" - nonspecific, you're in a hospital building.

There's a simple grammatical difference between "say" and "tell": you say something, and you tell someone something. "Tell" needs a person.