Is "I says" ever correct?

Yes, I’ve heard this too. Either dialect or just a thing some people do. It has a sort of rural raconteur or old-timey black-and-white movie city wiseguy feel. I wouldn’t use it in a formal or professional context or in writing, unless you’re doing dialogue and want that feeling.

It's used in some parts of the United States - New York springs to mind, is your friend from there? But generally speaking, its use is isolated. "He said, and then I said, and then said" is technically correct and used by the majority of speakers.

I says is informal but it's completely intelligible to use in most English places I would imagine

It’s quite common, especially in parts of New England and the upper Midwest (Chicago, etc.) Now that you know it’s common, you also know that it’s an acceptable variation in speech. It is not typically used in writing. Also, it seems to be a speech pattern of working class men with European ancestry. A good example of this can be heard from the guy at time mark 0:43 of this video about the boat lift of 9/11. https://youtu.be/18lsxFcDrjo?si=6X45cWFOajtOUYTq

I believe it is a somewhat archaic usage that is no longer favored. So, currently, not grammatical correct. But it is intelligible. If you were writing a book or play set in the past, then it would be acceptable but informal with an "uneducated" vibe.

It's a dialect at best, but it's often a joke where they're imitating old timey redneck type people. "So then I says to Mabel, I says, that's not my grandma, that's a St. Bernard." Also used to make fun of gangstas (both the old mafia kind and the modern street kind). 

It’s colloquial. Sometimes used in a joking way.

Foghorn Leghorn has entered the chat. 

It’s not standard. For many speakers this is a comic affectation. It emulates a pattern used by comedians and actors portraying lower-class characters telling humorous stories: “So I says to the guy, I says,” which is followed by the punch line. There is actually subgenre of jokes based on subverting this expectation: instead of delivering the punchline, the speaker either draws the story out or the scene ends abruptly. “So then I says to Mabel, I says . . .” from The Simpsons is an example of this. Bart is telling Lisa a story, but Homer interrupts them and Bart just says, “I’ll finish this later,” which deprives the audience of the punchline.

"Bobberpins says I should invest in pins, I says I should find meself in bobbers." Archaic english is never that far out of reach.

I hear it mostly in places like New York where there is a lot of Italian influences. Think of actors like Joe Pesci.

I would consider it incorrect English, but perhaps it’s okay in some dialects. It sounds wrong to my ears though

it's informal, jokey, slang-based. generally avoid, unless deliberately making a joke. it reminds me of something Bart Simpson used to say-- ["I says to Mabel, I says..."](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/s/OhBe6AW7ZH) it pokes fun at the old-timey way people used to talk to one another on the telephone.   while we are here: Montgomery Burns also once said "Ahoy-hoy!", which is another joke about the super-old-timey way people used to speak on the early telephone. both of these phrases might be more easily recognised as being jokes from _The Simpsons_ than their original, real-world usage, depending on the age and background of the person you're speaking with.

My grandfather spoke like this. He would also pronounce "roof" as "ruff" and "creek" as "crick" among some others. It's not a dialect I hear anymore outside of the elderly.

https://youtu.be/TQ8iIJUYeDw?si=RNx_evIg9UhNQnGi I think lots have probably heard it from cartoons like this, and would recognize it as very informal or oldtimey sounding speech, even if they've never heard anyone say it in real life.

My mother in law says this regularly and it drives me insane. She's from the rural South. Grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere with 8 siblings and abusive parents. She left home at 16 and never went back. She is not a particularly bright person and it comes off as very uneducated speech. Besides her, I've never heard anyone else speak like that in real life.

“And I says to him, I says…” is a colloquial way of telling stories.

Thems the redneck tounge. Yous all had better get learnin

It’s not correct grammar, no. It’s a bit of a dialect or even affectation. I can think of two instances where I’ve heard it specifically. In the Disney cartoon of Robin Hood, Robin disguises himself as a poor beggar and when he recounts a tale, he’ll use “I says” or “says I”. It comes off as an older way to portray someone who isn’t well off, not well educated, and from an isolated rural community. Which makes me realize that some of the voices are more like rural American South rather than British medieval style. The other instance is from a popular joke regarding the way some African Americans speak English in their own ways and styles. One day a zebra was talking to his friend. “Am I black with white stripes or am I white with black stripes?” His friend says he doesn’t know, but he can go ask god about it. So he goes and asks god. He leaves and comes back, still confused. “What did god say?” The friend asks. “He just said ‘You are what you are’”. His friend says, “Oh, that’s easy then. You’re white with black stripes.” “How can you tell?” “If you were black with white stripes he would have said ‘You is what you is’”. Is it really correct? No. I wouldn’t use it in a professional or academic setting but it is a choice that some people choose to make. It is often picked up from the people around us while growing up and the same way slang, quotes, and other things are popularized.

dialect or can be done to sound weird for comedic effect

I think maybe I've heard this in American films, but it sounds old fashioned. You would certainly get strange looks if u said this in England.

I never heard about ‘I says’. Is it normal or acceptable in everyday spoken English?

I'm from England and would never use 'I says'. It might be a form of dialect but it's grammatically incorrect.

No. It isn’t. It is slang. I say I said

I’ve never heard that, but according to these people it can be common in some dialects.

I know a 70-year old man from NE Pennsylvania who uses 'I says' and 'He says' almost like a filler to keep control of the conversation. He also uses 'youse'. His wife, who the same age and from the same town, never uses either expression.

"so I says to Mabel, I says..."

It’s a dialect

If a construction is standard for a dialect, it is almost by definition correct within the grammar of that dialect. I wouldn't use it in formal English though - much like 'I were' or 'you was' constructions, it's distinctly dialectal.

It's common in some dialects, but it's not standard. The vast majority of english speakers don't speak perfect standard English, especially in America. You wouldn't want to give it as an answer on an English test, but it's fine in casual speech

"I says" is not ever correct. That doesn't mean people don't say "I says." Such people are objectively uneducated. I put them at the second or third grade level.

Is it ever correct ? No. Do people say it? Yes. I dont recommend picking up the habit - aka master the game before you start breaking the rules

So I says to him, I says, you got my money?!

I have an aunt who does this in Ohio. She’s the only one in my family who does this. We grew up near each other, so I can’t explain it. She also pronounces coupon like “q-pon”. I don’t know if that’s related.

No, it's not correct, and mostly used by uneducated people.

In some specific regional dialects yes, usually no.

'Correct' Are you a linguist or a grammarian?

My aunt Ruth would go on for hours telling interminable trivial stories punctuated with "So I says...and she says..." In an insistent monotone that allowed no interruption. Well, maybe not for *hours*, but it felt like hours to a kid who just wanted to escape and go play outside. This was in the 1950's in Midwest US. I haven't heard this speaking style in decades.

dialect! my grandmother does the same thing

No, it's never correct.

It's incorrect. Doesn't mean it isn't used. It's just incorrect to do so.

Not in my community, I’ve heard it before

It's a dialect thing.

You are getting a lot of variation in the answers you are reading. The first setting to keep in mind is formal and/or proper, grammatically correct English. In this respect, “I SAYS” is never correct. Don’t use this in formal writing. Don’t use this in school or business settings. The second setting to keep in mind is slang, region, friends, informal, etc. In certain areas of the USA, this is a common form of informal speech. You can use it freely and people won’t bat an eye. In other areas, saying this will make you stand out. People will find it weird and may just mark you as an English learner. There is another area, though, where talking like this will mark you as uneducated, dumb, stupid, unlearned, poor, etc. since it references local dialects that are ostracized. I would suggest, as an English-learner, that you should learn the variations but abstain from using them until you are fully familiar with their usage.

This is not standard English, but some dialects are like that. Their speakers mostly write in Standard English, and even transcriptions of dialogue often edit it to Standard English, so it is rare to see this in writing.

It’s not correct or incorrect – it’s the way some people talk. My sister and I were talking just the other day about the fact that so many native English speakers use the verb “come” as come–come–come instead of come–came-come, and we don’t bat an eyelash when we hear them. And it doesn’t even sound ungrammatical or unnatural to us; it’s just the way some people speak. However, if a non-native used it, it would instantly sound strange and incorrect.

This is more a question about what does ‘correct’ mean with language choices. Outside of tests, it doesn’t really help to think of correct or incorrect; it’s binary and too limiting to regulate how different groups of people use the toolset. It’s more useful to use ideas like standard, appropriate, meaningful, effective, common etc.

It's certainly not standard but not uncommon when giving an account of a conversation in an informal setting.

It’s not grammatically correct, but it’s used in spoken English.

Native speakers of English rarely all sound alike due to various factors like race, location, class and other things. It's the same in other languages and countries too. The moment you have distance between groups of people that share the same language, they will end up using different words and grammar as time goes on. We all, for the most part understand each other because the core language is still the same and if we don't, we know enough to get the gist of what's being said. If you hear something that sounds grammatically incorrect from a native speaker, chances are it's slang/regional dialect. Focus on the gist/main idea in those cases. That's what we do. There are far too many English accents and dialects for us to understand everything everyone is saying.

No

Technically no.

Of course it wrong. Why do you even doubt that?