Collocations for tell - verb

bluntly, curtly, flatly
She told me bluntly it was my own fault.

gravely, seriously
smugly
honestly, truthfully
gently, quietly, softly
falsely

want to
be going to
I was going to tell you—I just didn't get around to it.

try to
hate to
I hate to tell you this but I've broken your phone.

let sb
I tried to tell them but they wouldn't let me.

about
I told him about the money.

of
No one had told her of the dangers.

to
He told the story to all his friends.

firmly, sternly
‘Calm down,’ he told her firmly.

Tell is used with these nouns as the subject:
Bible, clock, common sense, conscience, document, ear, email, expert, expression, eye, film, gauge, history, inscription, instinct, instruction, intuition, judge, letter, message, notice, sense, sign, source, statistics, strain

Tell is used with these nouns as the object:
anecdote, briefing, court, difference, fib, fortune, gag, hearing, history, interviewer, joke, journalist, judge, juror, jury, legend, lie, news, news conference, police, press, press conference, reporter, secret, story, superior, tale, time, trial, tribunal, truth, viewer, way, world, yarn