Tell Them In Spanish Translation | Say It Right

The most common way to say “tell them” in Spanish is “diles” as a command and “les digo” or “les diré” when you talk about yourself.

You hear the phrase “tell them” all the time in English. When you reach for the same idea in Spanish, one short expression suddenly turns into several choices.

This guide shows you how to pick the right option each time. It explains how the verb decir works, how to add the idea of “them” with pronouns, and how to change the wording for formal speech, casual talk, and different tenses.

What Does “Tell Them” Mean In Spanish?

In English, “tell them” often hides three pieces of information. You have the action “to tell”, the people who receive the message, and the thing you plan to say. Spanish usually needs all three parts to appear in the sentence.

The action comes from the verb decir, which covers “to say” and “to tell” in many daily phrases. The people who receive the message appear as indirect object pronouns like les or as full phrases such as a ellos or a mis padres. The thing you share becomes a direct object, like la verdad or el secreto.

Core Verb You Will Use: Decir

The main verb behind nearly every version of “tell them” is decir. The Diccionario de la lengua española describes it as communicating something in words, both spoken and written, and lists its irregular forms.

From this single verb you get the forms you need most often with “them”: present tense digo, future tense diré, past tense dije, and command forms like di, digan, and díganles. Other verbs like contar or avisar help when you tell a story or give a warning.

Indirect Object Pronouns For “Them”

Spanish uses indirect object pronouns to express “to them” or “for them”. The basic set is me, te, le, nos, os, les. For “them”, you use les. A handy way to check is to add the phrase “to them” in English; if that fits, you probably need les in Spanish.

Many teachers share charts that lay these forms out clearly, such as the summary of indirect object pronouns on SpanishDict. In speech and writing, these pronouns normally sit before the conjugated verb: les digo, les diré, les dije.

Tell Them In Spanish Translation In Different Contexts

There is no single line that always matches “tell them”. The wording changes with the subject, tense, and level of formality. Once you see the pattern, the choices stop feeling random.

Friendly Commands: Diles And Díganles

When you urge someone in a casual way to pass on a message, Spanish often uses the familiar command plus a pronoun attached to the end. For one friend, you say diles (“tell them”). For several people you speak to with ustedes, a common form in Latin America, you say díganles.

The Real Academia Española explains in the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas that the command form for tú is di, not dice. When you add the pronoun les, you join them into diles. Extra direct object pronouns like lo or la move in front of the indirect one, giving forms such as díselo for “tell it to them”.

Talking About What You Tell Them

When you talk about your own actions instead of giving a command, you keep the pronoun before the verb. Present tense les digo covers “I tell them”, les cuento works for “I tell them” in the sense of relating a story, and les aviso works well for warnings and alerts.

Past and future tenses follow the same pattern. You might say les dije la verdad (“I told them the truth”), les conté todo (“I told them everything”), or les diré mañana (“I will tell them tomorrow”). The pronoun stays just in front of the conjugated verb, while any extra detail usually comes after the verb or at the end of the sentence.

Situation	English Sentence	Natural Spanish Version
Casual command to one friend	Tell them the news.	Diles la noticia.
Command to a group	Tell them to come early.	Díganles que vengan temprano.
Talking about yourself, present	I always tell them the truth.	Siempre les digo la verdad.
Talking about yourself, past	I told them yesterday.	Les dije ayer.
Talking about yourself, future	I will tell them tomorrow.	Les diré mañana.
Storytelling sense	I tell them funny stories.	Les cuento historias graciosas.
Warning or advice	Tell them about the traffic.	Avísales del tráfico.
Indirect style	Please tell them what happened.	Por favor, diles lo que pasó.

Formal Ways To Tell Them In Spanish

Spanish makes a clear difference between talking to close friends and talking to people you treat with more distance, such as clients, older strangers, or officials. The pronoun for “them” does not change, but the form you choose for the person who gives the order does.

Using Usted And Ustedes With “Tell Them”

In many regions, usted and ustedes signal respect. With these subjects, the present tense forms usted les dice and ustedes les dicen already sound polite. For a direct request, you can say por favor, dígales when speaking to one person and por favor, díganles to speak to several.

To make the sentence clearer, Spanish often repeats the full noun phrase as well as the pronoun: Dígales a los clientes que ya abrimos (“Tell the customers that we are already open”). Teachers and grammars, such as the StoryLearning guide on indirect object pronouns, call this a form of emphasis that avoids confusion.

Softening The Message

English speakers often reach for phrases like “could you tell them” or “would you tell them”. Spanish uses past subjunctive or conditional verbs for the same gentle tone: ¿Podría decirles que llego tarde?, ¿Les diría que estoy en camino?

In many offices and service settings, people mix these structures with titles or names: Señora García, ¿podría decirles a sus hijos que esperen aquí? The core pattern remains the same: a polite verb form, the pronoun les, and the extra phrase that explains what the message contains.

Common Mistakes With “Tell Them” In Spanish

English speakers often carry habits from their own language into Spanish. With “tell them”, this usually shows up in three places: mixing up the pronoun, putting it in the wrong spot, or leaving out the rest of the sentence.

Choosing Le Instead Of Les

For groups, Spanish uses les, not le. When you say “tell them” about several people, the base form is diles or les digo. The pronoun le fits a single person, often with formal usted in mind.

When both direct and indirect object pronouns appear, le and les change to se before forms like lo or la. Guides about indirect object pronouns online point out that se lo can mean “to him”, “to her”, or “to them”, so wider context must carry part of the meaning.

Forgetting The Thing You Tell Them

In English, short answers such as “I already told them” or “tell them, please” feel complete. In Spanish, a bare ya les dije or diles can work in context, but learners often stop there even when listeners still need more information.

Adding the thing you say, the time, or the reason usually helps: Ya les dije que no puedo ir, Diles que los llamo más tarde, Díganles que la reunión cambió de sala. With practice, this extra phrase starts to come out naturally each time you talk about “tell them”.

Subject	English Idea	Suggested Spanish Pattern
Yo	I tell them	Yo les digo / Les cuento
Tú	You tell them	Tú les dices / Diles
Él / Ella	He or she tells them	Él les dice / Ella les dice
Nosotros	We tell them	Nosotros les decimos
Usted	You tell them (formal)	Usted les dice / Dígales
Ustedes	You tell them (plural)	Ustedes les dicen / Díganles
Ellos / Ellas	They tell them	Ellos les dicen / Ellas les dicen

How To Practice “Tell Them” In Real Situations

Short, focused drills also help the pattern stick. Pick a few sentences from your day and rewrite them with Spanish pronouns and decir. A simple line such as “I will tell them after lunch” turns into se lo diré después de comer once you pick a matching direct object pronoun. Regular practice makes these patterns feel simple during real conversations later.

You can also listen for les digo, diles, and related forms in films, podcasts, or conversations around you. Many learners keep a small list on their phone that pairs English ideas with Spanish phrases, then review the list while commuting or waiting in line each day.

Building Your Own Mini Phrasebook

A personal list of “tell them” sentences can slowly grow with your Spanish level. At the start, you might only write short lines such as Diles que ya llegué, Les dije que sí, or Les diré más tarde. Each one trains the link between the pronoun, the verb form, and the rest of the sentence.

Later, you can add longer phrases with added detail or more formal style: ¿Podrías decirles que el documento está listo?, Díganles a los invitados que la cena empieza a las ocho, Les dije que cualquier cambio se avisará por correo. Over time, these stored lines turn into patterns you can adjust on the fly.

When To Ask A Native Speaker

Even with good rules, there are cases where several options sound natural. Some regions prefer contar over decir in certain phrases, and some speakers drop pronouns that others keep. When a sentence feels unclear, asking a trusted native speaker or teacher for feedback gives you a real world check.

Many language platforms encourage you to bring short sentences like your “tell them” examples to class or to chat. With input from real conversations and solid references such as the entries for decir in the dictionaries of the Real Academia Española, your ear for what sounds natural grows over time.