English irregular verbs, past tense of Tell: Tell - Told - Told

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Tell is a commonly used verb in English. In the following article, let’s explore the meaning, how to conjugate the past tense of Tell, and practice some related exercises with PREP!

I. What is Tell?
II. What are the V0, V2, and V3 of Tell? The past tense of Tell in English
III. How to conjugate the verb Tell
1. 1. In the tenses
2. 2. In special sentence structures
IV. Phrasal verbs with Tell in English
V. Idioms with Tell in English
VI. Exercise on applying the past tense of Tell with answers
1. 1. Exercise: Conjugate the verb Tell in parentheses
2. 2. Answer key

I. What is Tell?

Tell, pronounced /tel/, functions as a verb, meaning: to inform/command, to tell someone, or to narrate something to someone. For example:

I will tell you the truth.
Anna told me a funny story.

II. What are the V0, V2, and V3 of Tell? The past tense of Tell in English

What is the past tense of Tell? V0, V2, V3 are abbreviations for the base form, Tell past simple and past participle. Let’s explore the V0, V2, and V3 forms of Tell in the table below with PREP!

Verb form		Example
V0	Tell /tel/	I tell my younger sister to go home.
V2	Told /toʊld/	I told my younger sister to go home last night.
V3	Told /toʊld/	I have told my younger sister to go home for 3 hours.

Tell past tense and past participle are: Tell in past simple is Told and past participle of Tell is Told.

III. How to conjugate the verb Tell

In the 12 tenses of English and various special structures, how is the verb Tell conjugated? Let’s find out below with PREP!

1. In the tenses

12 tenses in English	I	He/She/It	We/You/They
Present simple tense	tell	tells	tell
	I tell him the truth every day. He tells his mom everything. They tell jokes at parties.
Present progressive tense	am telling	is telling	are telling
	I am telling her about the meeting right now. He is telling a funny story. They are telling us to leave.
Present perfect tense	have told	has told	have told
	I have told you this many times before. He has already told his friends about the trip. They have told us the news since 5 AM.
Present perfect progressive tense	have been telling	has been telling	have been telling
	I have been telling her to be careful for weeks. He has been telling the same joke all evening. They have been telling me about their problems all this month.
Tell simple past tense	told	told	told
	I told him to stay home yesterday. He told me the secret last night. They told us to wait outside.
Past progressive tense	was telling	was telling	were telling
	I was telling my friend about the movie when you called. He was telling jokes all last night. They were telling stories around the campfire.
Past perfect tense	had told	had told	had told
	I had told her everything before she left. He had told his parents about the accident before they knew it. They had told us the news before the meeting.
Past perfect progressive tense	had been telling	had been telling	had been telling
	I had been telling him to study more many times before he failed the test. He had been telling stories for hours before he fell asleep. They had been telling me about their trip when the power went out.
Future simple tense	will tell	will tell	will tell
	I will tell you the plan tomorrow. He will tell them the news later. They will tell us what happened.
Future progressive tense	will be telling	will be telling	will be telling
	I will be telling her everything tonight. He will be telling jokes at the party tomorrow. They will be telling us their stories when we meet.
Future perfect tense	will have told	will have told	will have told
	I will have told him the news by the time you arrive. He will have told everyone by noon. They will have told us everything before we leave.
Future perfect progressive tense	will have been telling	will have been telling	will have been telling
	I will have been telling her the story for an hour by the time you join us. He will have been telling jokes for hours by the time the show ends. They will have been telling us about their trip for days by then.

2. In special sentence structures

Special Structure	I	He/She/It	We/You/They
Conditional Sentences
Second conditional - Main Clause	would tell	would tell	would tell
Second conditional - Main Clause	If I had more time, I would tell you the whole story. If she were here, she would tell you the truth. If we knew the answer, we would tell them.
Third conditional - Main Clause	would have told	would have told	would have told
Third conditional - Main Clause	If I had known earlier, I would have told you. If she had been honest, she would have told them everything. If we had met them, we would have told them the news.
Subjunctive
Subjunctive expressing present situation	tell	tell	tell
Subjunctive expressing present situation contrary to fact	told	told	told
Subjunctive expressing past situation contrary to fact	had told	had told	had told
Example	I suggest that I tell the truth to everyone. If she told the truth, I would forgive her right away. If she had told everyone, they would have known the news.

IV. Phrasal verbs with Tell in English

In addition to the past form of Tell, let’s explore the list of phrasal verbs with Tell in the table below with PREP!

Phrasal verbs with Tell	Meaning	Example
tell someone/ something apart	to recognize the differences between two or more people or things	It's hard to tell the twins apart because they look so similar.
tell off someone	to reprimand or criticize someone severely and angrily	The teacher told off the students for talking during the lesson.
tell on someone	to report or inform on someone about their wrongdoing or misbehavior	If you cheat during the test, I’ll tell on you.
tell against someone/ something	to have a negative effect on someone or something or to diminish someone’s credibility or chances	Jack’s lack of experience told against him during the job interview.

V. Idioms with Tell in English

In addition to the past tense of Tell, let’s explore some common idioms with Tell below with PREP!

Idioms with Tell	Meaning	Example
tell it like it is	to speak honestly and directly about something, without trying to hide or sugarcoat the truth.	Bella always tells it like it is, even if the truth is hard to hear.
tell me about it	used to express understanding or agreement with what someone is saying because one has experienced something similar	"This traffic is awful!" "Tell me about it, I’ve been stuck here for hours."
to tell (you) the truth	honestly speaking; to express the truth or reality of a situation	To tell you the truth, I didn’t enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would.
I tell a lie	used when realizing that one has made a false statement and wishes to correct it immediately	We arrived at 6 pm—no, I tell a lie, it was actually 5:30 pm.
kiss and tell	to reveal or disclose private details about a romantic relationship, often after it has ended	John promised not to kiss and tell, but everyone knows he can't keep a secret.

VI. Exercise on applying the past tense of Tell with answers

To better understand the past tense of Tell in English, let’s complete the exercise below together with PREP!

1. Exercise: Conjugate the verb Tell in parentheses

I _______ (tell) you the truth every time you ask me.
Linda _______ (tell) me a story when I called her yesterday.
They _______ (tell) us about their trip by this time next week.
We _______ (tell) the news if we had known it earlier.
John _______ (tell) his parents that he passed the exam already.
I _______ (tell) you the details right now, so please listen carefully.
Anna _______ (tell) her secret if you hadn’t interrupted her.
They _______ (tell) me the good news when I meet them tomorrow.
We _______ (tell) him the truth for two hours by the time he finally believes us.
John _______ (tell) his teacher about his project when the class was over.

2. Answer key

tell
was telling
will have told
would have told
has told

am telling
would have told
will tell
will have been telling
told

In this article, PREP has shared all the knowledge about the past tense of Tell. Be sure to follow PREP to keep updating more useful English knowledge!

Master Tu Pham

Founder/CEO at Prep

Founder of Prep Smart Test Preparation Platform. With over 10 years of experience in teaching and test preparation, Mr. Tú has helped thousands of students achieve high scores in the IELTS exam. In addition, Mr. Tú Phạm is also a consulting expert in British Council programs and a speaker at many leading educational events, programs, and conferences.