Mandarin's everyday verbs of speaking look interchangeable in an English gloss — they all come out as "say," "tell," "speak," "ask" — but they are not interchangeable in grammar. What separates them is what object each one demands: some want the content of the speech, some want the hearer, and some want both. Get the object frame right and these verbs slot into place; get it wrong and you produce the classic errors like 说我 for "tell me." This page maps the whole family; the flagship contrast 说 vs 告诉 gets its own deep dive.
说 — say / speak (the general one)
说 (shuō) is the workhorse. It reports what someone says (说 + a clause), and it names the language you speak (说 + a language). Its defining trait: 说 does not need a hearer — you can report speech into the air. When in doubt about "say," 说 is the safe default.
他说他今天很忙。
tā shuō tā jīntiān hěn máng
He says he's very busy today. (neutral) — 说 + a reported clause, no hearer.
你会说汉语吗？
nǐ huì shuō Hànyǔ ma?
Can you speak Chinese? (neutral) — 说 + a language.
讲 — tell / explain / speak
讲 (jiǎng) overlaps 说 heavily, but leans toward laying something out: telling a story, explaining a point, reasoning through something. 讲故事 (tell a story), 讲道理 (reason / talk sense), 讲课 (lecture). In much of the south it's also the ordinary word for "speak (a language)."
老师在给我们讲一个故事。
lǎoshī zài gěi wǒmen jiǎng yí ge gùshi
The teacher is telling us a story. (neutral) — 讲 for narrating/explaining.
你别跟我讲道理，我不想听。
nǐ bié gēn wǒ jiǎng dàolǐ, wǒ bù xiǎng tīng
Don't lecture me — I don't want to hear it. (informal) — 讲道理 = reason/argue a point.
告诉 — tell someone (person first!)
告诉 (gàosu) is the verb for delivering information to a hearer, and it is a double-object verb: it demands a person first, then the message. 告诉我 ("tell me"), 告诉他答案 ("tell him the answer"). You can never say 告诉 into the air — there must be a named hearer. This is the single biggest structural difference from 说.
请告诉我你的电话号码。
qǐng gàosu wǒ nǐ de diànhuà hàomǎ
Please tell me your phone number. (neutral) — 告诉 + person (我) + content.
他告诉我他明天不来了。
tā gàosu wǒ tā míngtiān bù lái le
He told me he's not coming tomorrow. (neutral) — 告诉 + hearer + clause.
问 — ask (a person, a question)
问 (wèn) is also a double-object verb: it takes a person, then the question — 问老师一个问题 ("ask the teacher a question"). Word order matters: the hearer comes first, the question second, just like 告诉.
我可以问你一个问题吗？
wǒ kěyǐ wèn nǐ yí ge wèntí ma?
Can I ask you a question? (informal) — 问 + person + question.
老师问了我一个很难的问题。
lǎoshī wèn le wǒ yí ge hěn nán de wèntí
The teacher asked me a hard question. (neutral) — person 我 first, question second.
回答 and 叫 — answering and telling-to
回答 (huídá) is "answer / reply," taking the question (or person) you're responding to: 回答问题, 回答我. 叫 (jiào) has a speech life too — beyond "be called / shout," it means tell someone to do something (a pivotal construction): 叫我回家 ("told me to go home").
请回答我的问题。
qǐng huídá wǒ de wèntí
Please answer my question. (neutral) — 回答 + the question.
妈妈叫我早点回家。
māma jiào wǒ zǎodiǎn huí jiā
Mom told me to come home early. (informal) — 叫 = tell someone to do something.
The object frames at a glance
| Verb | Gloss | Object frame | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 说 (shuō) | say / speak |
| 他说他很忙 · 说汉语 |
| 讲 (jiǎng) | tell / explain |
| 讲故事 · 讲道理 |
| 告诉 (gàosu) | tell someone |
| 告诉我答案 |
| 问 (wèn) | ask |
| 问老师一个问题 |
| 回答 (huídá) | answer |
| 回答我的问题 |
| 叫 (jiào) | tell to do / call |
| 叫我回家 |
Common Mistakes
1. Using 说 with a bare person for "tell me." 说 doesn't take a hearer directly; "tell me" is 告诉我.
❌ 他说我他很忙。
Incorrect — 说 can't take a bare person; use 告诉我 (or drop the hearer).
✅ 他告诉我他很忙。
tā gàosu wǒ tā hěn máng
He told me he's busy. — 告诉 carries the hearer 我.
2. Dropping the person after 告诉. 告诉 must name a hearer; it can't stand with only the message.
❌ 我想告诉一件事。
Incomplete — 告诉 needs a hearer first: 告诉你一件事.
✅ 我想告诉你一件事。
wǒ xiǎng gàosu nǐ yí jiàn shì
I want to tell you something. — hearer 你 comes before the message.
3. Using 说 to mean "ask." Posing a question to someone is 问, not 说.
❌ 我说你一个问题。
Incorrect — asking a question is 问, not 说.
✅ 我问你一个问题。
wǒ wèn nǐ yí ge wèntí
Let me ask you a question. — 问 + person + question.
4. Reversing the who/what order after 问 or 告诉. The hearer comes first, the message second.
❌ 我问一个问题你。
Wrong order — double-object verbs put the person before the message.
✅ 我问你一个问题。
wǒ wèn nǐ yí ge wèntí
I'll ask you a question. — person 你 first, question second.
Key Takeaways
- 说 is the general "say/speak" — content or a language, and it needs no hearer.
- 讲 leans toward laying out — stories, reasoning, lecturing (讲故事, 讲道理).
- 告诉 and 问 are double-object verbs: person first, then the message.
- 回答 answers a question; 叫 tells someone to do something.
- The object frame — who vs what — is what separates these verbs; match it and the errors vanish. For the sharpest pair, see 说 vs 告诉.
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- 说 vs 告诉 (Say vs Tell Someone)HSK 2 — The decisive rule: 告诉 (gàosu) must take a person — the hearer — as its first object, while 说 (shuō) does not; to give 说 a hearer, route it through 跟 or 对.
- Double-Object Verbs (送, 借, 还, 教, 告诉)HSK 3 — A family of transfer and communication verbs — 送, 借, 还, 教, 告诉, 问 — share 给's recipient-before-thing frame; 借 even covers both 'lend' and 'borrow', sorted out by direction.
- 给 (gěi): Double Object (给我一本书)HSK 1 — 给 (gěi) 'give' takes two objects in the order recipient + thing — 给我一本书 (give me a book) — making it the model verb for the whole double-object class.