They both mean "to communicate verbally with someone". But we often use them differently. The simple way to think of say and tell is: Ram said that he was tired. Ram told Jane that he was tired. Anthony says you have a new job. Anthony tells me you have a new job. Tara said: "I love you."

The verb say focuses on the words that someone utters, without necessarily including the listener or object in the sentence. On the other hand, tell often requires an object, implying that someone is communicating information to another person.

Say and tell are irregular verbs. The past simple of say is said, the past simple of tell is told: They asked if I was looking for work and I said yes. Then he told me how he had got the job by lying about his age. We use say and tell in different ways in reported speech.

We use: tell + somebody. I told David about it. Did you tell him? He told me (that) he was ill. We use: say + clause. She said she was ill. She told me (that) she was ill. We use: say + something + to somebody. She said hello to me. tell somebody (that) ... tell somebody who/when/where.