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Hi, everyone!
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Think of "tell" and you think of speaking, but "tell" doesn't always mean "tell."
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Let me tell you why.
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OK, that time I meant speaking.
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Not only does the verb 'tell' mean "say something to someone," it also has a meaning similar to "know", "recognize", "understand", or "perceive."
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We often use it in combination with the verb "can" to make "can tell" for the present and "could tell" for the past.
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I can tell he's from France.
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He has an accent!
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Or we could tell it was going to rain because of the clouds.
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We often use it to talk about differences.
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Then, we might use the negative or the question.
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Can you tell the difference between this cup and that cup?
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I can't tell the difference between this cup and that cup.
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We often use "can tell" with the pronoun "you" to talk about something that many people should find obvious.
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You can tell he's an English teacher.
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He knows all the answers.
