Grammar Fix: He said me: say, tell, and the person in between

Objective & content

students correctly complement tell and say — tell takes a person right after it, never "to" (tell me); say never takes a person directly, needs "to" if one follows (say it to someone) — same pattern extends to explain. The printable is the unit's class pack: one A4 pupil sheet (recognition items, then fill-in and word-order drills) printed once per pupil, and one teacher sheet with the answer key and the notes below.

Pedagogical guide

French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese cover both verbs with one verb (dire/decir/dire/dizer) that takes a person directly, no preposition, so the error transfers both ways. German/Polish mark the person with no preposition too (calques straight into "he said me"). Dutch is the one exception — zeggen already needs "tegen" before a person, so nothing transfers there (so the unit is aimed at every market except the Dutch one). Use it after the class has watched the unit, or on its own as a targeted repair when the mistake shows up in written work.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Write the target sentence on the board and ask what is wrong with it. Collect the class's answers.
2. (10 min) Pupils work through the pupil sheet alone: recognition items first, then the drills.
3. (5 min) Check with the teacher sheet. Read the explanation of each recognition item aloud.
4. (2 min) Exit line: each pupil writes one correct sentence with the structure on a slip of paper.

Adaptations

• [S] Do the recognition items together as a class before pupils try the drills alone.
• [A] in pairs, one student whispers a statement, the other reports it twice — with tell and with say — then the class checks which form took a direct person and which needed "to."

Materials & prerequisites

One pupil sheet per pupil, one teacher sheet. No audio needed; the Grammar Fix unit video is an optional lead-in. Watch for: dropping the person after tell ("he told that he was late"); adding a person directly after say ("he said me he was busy") — this sheet tests both directions evenly. Once the rule lands, overcorrection adding "to" after tell ("tell to me"), extended to the newly taught explain ("explain me the rule").

Curriculum alignment

Grammar tags: direct-indirect-speech. Filed at A2- (the level where the mistake starts to appear); the example sentences stay inside that band.

Assessment & extensions

The exit line is the check. Extend with the Grammar Fix unit itself, or with the grammar sheet on the same structure when one exists.