What is the difference between "said" and "told"?

Answer 1

said (sĕd)
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verb
Past tense and past participle of say
adjective
Law
Named or mentioned before; aforementioned: Said party has denied the charges.
usage note
Usage Note: The adjective said is used primarily in legal and business writing, where it is equivalent to aforesaid: the said tenant (named in a lease); said property. Outside of these specialized contexts said is usually unnecessary, and the tenant or the property will suffice.



told (tōld)
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verb
Past tense and past participle of tell1
tell1 (tĕl)
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[Middle English tellen, from Old English tellan.]

verb: told (tōld), tell·ing, tells.
transitive verb
To give a detailed account of; narrate: tell what happened; told us a story.
To communicate by speech or writing; express with words: tell the truth; tell one's love.
To make known; reveal: tell a secret; tell fortunes.
To notify; inform.
To inform positively; assure: I tell you, the plan will work.
To give instructions to; direct: told the customers to wait in line.
To discover by observation; discern: could tell that he was upset.
To name or number one by one; count: telling one's blessings; 16 windows, all told.
intransitive verb
To give an account or revelation: is prepared to break silence and tell.
To give evidence; inform: promised not to tell on her friend.
To have an effect or impact: In this game every move tells

Answer 2

told may more than likely carry the connotation of an order request or command as in they were told to it implies responsibility where as said requires more verbiage to express the same . I said it would rain . I told them to get out of the rain or to bring an umbrella . One could use said as I said you would need an umbrella because rain is expected .
But it still sounds less authoritive or bossy and a little more polite .

Answer 3

Said - you said something to a person with no intentions of directing their thoughts or implying what you believe.

Told - you told someone something that you want them to know for sure / want them to do something.


Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Things that are told are spoken with the intention of having an audience hear it.

Things said are spoken regardless of whether or not there's an audience.

Answer 5

If you say something, it just means you speak some words; they don't even have to make sense. If you tell someone something, you convey a specific piece of information.

Answer 6

Both are obviously past tense. The difference is in that "said" is passive and "told" is active.

passive - you let it happen.
active - you are involved in it.

Answer 7

"Said " refers to anything spoken.eg I said it was raining.
"Told " refers to another person eg I told you it was raining.
U wouldn't say I said you it was raining & u wouldn't say I told it was raining. Hope this makes sense.

Answer 8

the answer simply is:

u say something
but
u tell someone

hope i helped :D