told

told — verb

1. the form of the verb 'tell' used to show that the action of giving information,

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA1
Definition

the form of the verb 'tell' used to show that the action of giving information, instructions, or a story happened in the past.

Example

João told the taxi driver to wait while he ran inside the house.

told + person + to-infinitive (instruction)

Noor told me that the library would close early on Friday.

told + person + that-clause (information)

Common collocations
  • told + person
  • told + story
  • told + truth / lie
  • told + secret
Synonyms
  • said

    more general; 'said' can report any utterance, while 'told' implies a listener is receiving the information

  • informed

    more formal and more specific; 'informed' suggests factual or official communication

  • notified

    formal; used for official announcements or alerts, not casual conversation

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

told + person + (that)-clause

told + person + to-infinitive

told + person + about + noun phrase

be + told + (that)-clause (passive)

Usage Note

Told is the only past-tense form of 'tell' — it is used for all persons (I told, you told, she told, we told, they told). Do not add -ed: 'telled' is not a word. In informal spoken English, 'I told you so' is a common fixed expression used when something the speaker predicted has come true.

Common Mistakes

I telled him the answer yesterday.
I told him the answer yesterday.
The verb 'tell' is irregular; its past form is 'told', not 'telled'.
She has tell me before.
She has told me before.
After 'has/have/had', use the past participle 'told', not the base form 'tell'.

Word family

  • tell
    verbA1
  • telling
    verbA1
  • tells
    verbA1
  • teller
    nounB1
  • tale
    nounB1
  • telling
    adjectiveB2
  • retell
    verbB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words relate to communicating information, but they differ in how the listener is treated. 'Told' (from 'tell') always implies a listener: you tell someone something. 'Said' (from 'say') can report words with or without a listener — you can say 'hello' to no one in particular. 'Informed' is more formal and suggests the information is factual or important, as in 'The doctor informed the family of the results.' 'Notified' is the most formal and is used for official announcements, such as 'The school notified parents about the snow day.' Use 'told' for everyday conversations and storytelling; use 'informed' or 'notified' for written or formal settings.

told ↗said ↗informednotified

Common collocations

Nouns

  • told a story
  • told the truth
  • told a lie
  • told a joke
  • told a secret

Adverbs

  • already told
  • never told
  • just told
  • finally told
  • honestly told

Phrases

  • I told you so
  • if the truth be told
  • all told
  • told in confidence

Prepositions

  • told about
  • told of
  • told by (someone)
  • told to (someone)

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'told' comes from Old English 'told', the past tense of 'tellan' (to tell, to count). The Old English verb 'tellan' itself comes from Proto-Germanic *taljaną (to count, to recount), related to the modern English words 'tale' and 'tally'. Over time, the meaning shifted from counting objects to recounting a story or giving information.