speak for — to express the opinions or wishes of someone else
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to say what someone else thinks or wants, usually because you have their permission or authority.
Say it like a native
Textbook I am authorised to express the views of the entire team.
Native I can speak for the whole team on this.
'Speak for' is the natural way to say you represent someone's views; the formal version is stilted.
Pattern: speak for + noun/pronoun
In use
- I can't speak for everyone, but I think we should start the meeting now.communication
- In my opinion, and I think I can speak for most students in my class, we would prefer to have more practical lessons.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I speak for to my colleagues.
✓ I speak for my colleagues.
'Speak for' takes the object directly — no 'to'.
Common collocations
speak for + group— the team, all of us, the company, myself
Don't confuse it
'Speak for' is different from 'speak to' (talk directly to someone) and 'speak about' (talk about a topic).