Collocations for speak - verb

briefly
We spoke briefly on the phone.

at length
hardly
Ben hardly spoke to me all evening.

want to
refuse to
The president refused to speak to the waiting journalists.

dare (to)
No one had ever dared to speak to him like that before.

about, to
I need to speak to Joseph about this matter.

with (esp. AmE)
Can I speak with you for a minute?

be on speaking terms (with sb)
We are still on speaking terms after the argument.

a/the chance to speak, a/the opportunity to speak
I didn't get a chance to speak to him.

not be speaking (to sb)
Ed and Dave aren't speaking at the moment.

speaking of …
Speaking of Brett, why isn't he here?

loudly
quietly, softly
clearly
You must speak loudly and clearly on the stage.

slowly
calmly
briefly
at length
suddenly
hardly
eloquently, movingly
She spoke eloquently about the need for action.

lovingly, soothingly, warmly
disparagingly, harshly, sharply, sternly
authoritatively, forcefully
earnestly
coherently, intelligibly, meaningfully
freely, openly, publicly
directly
The main character speaks directly into the camera.

boldly
hesitantly

be able to, be unable to, can (hardly)
She was so moved she could hardly speak.

be allowed to
begin to, open your mouth to
She opened her mouth to speak and found she couldn't.

try to
not trust yourself to
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

hear sb
I heard him speak at the debating society.

invite sb to
She was invited to speak at a Harvard conference.

about, on
She speaks on women's issues.

against
He spoke out against mismanagement.

for, on behalf of
I speak for all my colleagues.
I speak on behalf of many thousands of women.

in favour/favor of
She spoke in favour/favor of the new tax.

of
He speaks very warmly of you.

to
He will be speaking to history students about the causes of war.

the ability to speak
He lost his ability to speak.

have the courage to speak
They had the courage to speak the truth.

the right to speak
Everyone should have the right to speak their mind.

speak from experience
I'm speaking from experience, having been there often.

fluently, well
He speaks German fluently.

be able to, can
be unable to, cannot
learn to
the benefits of learning to speak a foreign language

teach sb to

in
Would you prefer it if we spoke in French?

the ability to speak sth
The ability to speak another language is a valued skill.

Speak is used with these nouns as the subject:
immigrant

Speak is used with these nouns as the object:
blasphemy, dialect, jargon, language, sentence, tongue, truth, word