tell _verb 

NOUNS

story, tale
・He told the story of how he and his wife met.

joke
・They sat around laughing and telling jokes.

secret
・I offered to tell her my secret if she didn’t tell anyone else.

lie
・The newspaper told lies about us.

truth
・“I’m telling you the truth,” she insisted.

ADVERBS

firmly
・“Calm down, Laura,” he told her firmly.

bluntly, frankly, flatly 
・The teacher told him bluntly that if he didn’t improve, he would lose his place on the course.

gently
・I tried to tell her as gently as possible, so as not to hurt her feelings.

truthfully
・She told him truthfully that she did not have the keys.

PREPOSITIONS

about
・Mark was telling us about his new job.

of
・She told us of her pride at seeing her son graduate.

to
・We advised him not to tell this story to reporters.

PHRASES

tell sb all about sth
・“Have you heard about Sarah and Jeff?” “Yes, Mike told me all about it.”

you must not tell anyone
・It’s a secret – you mustn’t tell anyone.

I hate to tell you, but...
・I hate to tell you, but it looks like someone’s stolen your car.