No reason is given why Philip went to tell Andrew, though it may be noted that among the twelve disciples only these two bore Greek names.

The two of them went and told Jesus (New English Bible “the two of them went to tell Jesus”; New American Bible “Philip and Andrew in turn came to inform Jesus”) is more literally “and they told Jesus” (Revised Standard Version). But the context implies that Jesus was not there with them, and so they had to go and tell him, as New English Bible, New American Bible, and Good News Translation make clear. In some languages it may be necessary to mention the content of what they told Jesus, for example, “they told Jesus what the Greeks had said.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .