say and talk

[shariatiali]

may i ask you what is diffrent between "say" and "talk" ? thanks

[Greight]

The difference is more of a grammatical kind rather than relating to vocabulary. Say needs an object that is you say something. Talk does not need that. I the meaning area talk seems to have more sense of conversation than say.

[rezafo]

Talk: to say things to someone as part of a conversation:

Are you with me? I'm talking to you boy?

Did you talk to your mother about our party?



Say: to express an idea, feeling, thought etc using words:

I'm so tired,' she said.

Don't cry,' he said softly.

Don't believe anything he says.


You talk to SOMEONE

You say SOMETHING ,


A clear understanding can be obtained through reading lots of sentences containing the two discussed verbs.

Please Open your English-English Dictionary ( How good if it is Oxford Advance Learner's Dictionary) and go to the entries of both verbs and feel free to satisfy yourself with so many helpful phrases.


You can also study the verbs Speak and Talk and do the following exercise:
For each sentence, choose the best word (say, talk, speak, tell ) or phrase to complete the gap from the choices below.

1. How many languages can you . . . . . . . . . . ?
2. Most children learn to . . . . . . . . . . by the time they are two.
3. When you see your mother, . . . . . . . . . . hello to her from me
4. Who were you . . . . . . . . . . to on the phone a minute ago? Was it a customer?
5. I can never hear what Miriam . . . . . . . . . . . Her voice is so quiet.
6. Please, . . . . . . . . . . us a joke. You know so many.
7. Never lie. You must always . . . . . . . . . . the truth.
8. Could you . . . . . . . . . . me where I can find a bank near here?
9. It's difficult to . . . . . . . . . . how old this building is. There have been so many changes.
10. If you have a problem, please just . . . . . . . . . . me about it and I promise I'll try and help.
11. They left without . . . . . . . . . . anything to anybody. I never managed to say goodbye.
12. This week a police officer came to our school to give us a . . . . . . about preventing crime.