say - Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/say_1
web[intransitive, transitive] to speak or tell somebody something, using words. + speech ‘Hello!’ she said. ‘That was marvellous,’ said Daniel. A legendary football coach once said, ‘Winning is everything.’. In stories the subject often comes after said, says or say when it follows the actual words spoken, unless it is a pronoun.
DA: 2 PA: 17 MOZ Rank: 44