tell

CEFRA1

[tʰɔː]

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To give information to someone by speaking or writing.

  2. 02

    verb

    To recognize or understand something.

Examples

  • I can't tell her now. It's not that simple anymore.

  • I didn't tell him anything except that I needed the money.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /tɛl/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Mental senses related to determining, reckoning, or perceiving

  2. To determine the number, amount, or value of [something].

  3. To notice, discern. (Roughly, "can tell" means "know" but with a sense of direct perception.)

More examples

In context

  • You wanted to tell me about freedom?

  • All told, there were over a dozen. Can you tell time on a clock? He had untold wealth.

  • You can tell you've struck a nerve when even the crowd stops laughing.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Please blank me what exactly happened at the team meeting last night.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talō (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja, Swedish tala (“to speak”). More at tale.