schwätzen

From Middle High German swetzen, swatzen, akin to Middle High German swaz (“talk, chatter”). Cognate with Pennsylvania German schwetze, Luxembourgish schwätzen, Dutch zwetsen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃvɛtsən/, [ˈʃʋɛ.t͡sn̩]

• Audio:

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schwätzen (weak, third-person singular present schwätzt, past tense schwätzte, past participle geschwätzt, auxiliary haben)

1. to chat, talk, babble, prate

   Synonyms: sich unterhalten, plaudern, quatschen, labern, schwafeln

   Hört auf zu schwätzen, sonst muss ich euch beide auseinandersetzen.

   Stop chatting now, otherwise I have to make you two sit apart from each other.

2. (southwestern Germany) to speak, talk

   Synonyms: reden, sprechen

   Ich muss mal mit ihm drüber schwätzen.

   I’ll have to talk to him about it sometime.

• In southwestern Germany (Baden-Württemberg, southern Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland) this is a neutral, albeit somewhat informal, word for speaking.
• Elsewhere it is more restricted and roughly interchangeable with the variant schwatzen. A very loose distinction may be identified insofar as schwätzen usually means chatting among a group, while schwatzen also refers to one person who talks a lot. Both may have a negative tone, especially with situations where one ought to be silent (e.g. during a school lesson as above).
• The derivatives Geschwätz (“idle talk”), Schwätzer (“babbler, windbag”) belong more to schwatzen, while Schwatz, Schwätzchen (“chat”) belong more to schwätzen. The latter two nouns are usually not negative.

• Geschwätz, geschwätzig
• Schwatz, Schwätzchen
• schwatzen

• “schwätzen” in Duden online
• “schwätzen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Middle High German swetzen. Cognate with German schwätzen, schwatzen. For the past participle geschwat compare setzen.

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃwæt͡sən]

schwätzen (third-person singular present schwätzt, past participle geschwat, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (intransitive) to speak

   Schwätz méi lues, ech kann dech net verstoen.

   Speak more slowly, I can't understand you.

2. (transitive) to speak (a language)

   Hie ka keen Englesch schwätzen.

   He can't speak English.