Difference Between Says and Said

Says vs Said

The differences between “says” and “said” is in the tenses that they are used. “Says” is used with the present tense, and “said” is used with the past tense. The main word is “say.” The present tense is “says,” the past is “said,” and the future tense is “will say.”

Present Tense
The present tense has three different forms; simple present tense, present continuous tense, present perfect tense, and present perfect continuous tense. All these forms of the present tense are used for different actions happening now in the present time.
“Says” is used in the simple present tense. “Says” may be used for the following actions:

To show an action which is habitual: “She says the prayer every morning at 5:00 after taking a bath.”
To introduce quotations: “Keats says, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever.’”
Direct and reported speeches may be expressed using “says,” for example: “He says, ‘The school will be over at 12:00 in the afternoon today.’”This is direct speech.
Reported speech: “He says that the school will be over at 12:00 today.”

Past Tense
The past tense is used to indicate any action which has been completed in the past. It may be used with or without an adverb of time.
“Said” is used in the simple past tense. “Said” may be used for the following actions:

To show an action completed in the past with or without a time frame: “She said her prayers everyday,” or “She said her prayers everyday at 5:00 in the morning.”
It can be used to mention a well-known quotation: “Keats said, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever.’”
In direct speeches: “He said, ‘The bus is late again.’”
For reported speech: “He said that the bus was late again.”

Summary:

1.The main difference between “says” and “said” is that they are two different forms of tenses. “Says” is the present tense for the word “say,” and “said” is the past tense for the word “say.”
2.“Says” is used for the simple present tense which shows an action which is habitual, and “said” is used for the simple past tense which may or may not be used with an adverb of time.

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