Thread: разговаривать vs говорить

Good evening everyone Somebody helped me translate the sentence "They were talking with each other." The translation was:
"Они разговаривают друг с другом" I had been more interested in the "each other" bit, but I got a new word in the bargain...

But why was "разговаривают" used instead of "говорят"?
In what way would the sentence be different if "говорят" had been used?

Originally Posted by Lingvo

разговаривать
1) (говорить, вести речь) speak; talk; (с ; беседовать) talk (to, with), speak (to, with), converse (with) 2) (с ; поддерживать общение) speak (to), be on speaking terms (with)

говорить
1) (владеть речью, высказываться) speak, talk 2) (сказать) (; высказывать, сообщать) say (to); tell () 3) (поговорить) (с кем-л о ; беседовать) speak (with / to smb about / of); talk (to / with smb about / of) 4) (о ; указывать на что-л) indicate () , point (to) 5) (на кого-л; называть виновником) slander ()

"They were talking to each other" - "они разговаривали/говорили друг с другом"
Difference between "разговаривали" and "говорили" is that "разговаривали" emphasizes that they were having closer particular conversation, and "говорили" means mere event..."разговаривали" is used for a bit closer familiar dialog

That's a good explanation, thanks!
In my language (Swedish) there is a perfect word for closer conversation. With this in mind, I know exactly what you mean. Such a word does not exist in English.

Problem solved!

In your example they are interchangeable.

Разговаривать refers to dialog (or ability to carry dialog) only, while говорить may refer also to the single act of speech.

In fact, "они разговаривают друг с другом" = "они говорят друг с другом". But if you need to delve deeply into nuances, I'd translate them this way:

они разговаривают друг с другом - they're talking with each other
они говорят друг с другом - they're talking to each other

Originally Posted by Оля

In fact, "они разговаривают друг с другом" = "они говорят друг с другом". But if you need to delve deeply into nuances, I'd translate them this way:

они разговаривают друг с другом - they're talking with each other
они говорят друг с другом - they're talking to each other

а я думал, with тут это ошибка, пасиб) сорри за русский, просто ща спать, голова не варит)))

Originally Posted by Johanna

That's a good explanation, thanks!
In my language (Swedish) there is a perfect word for closer conversation. With this in mind, I know exactly what you mean. Such a word does not exist in English.

Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"

English? It sounds French to me.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"

English? It sounds French to me.

Потому что проклятые лягушонки у нас украли это коренное англосаксонское выражение! (Just as they stole "trottoir" and "serviette" and "Salade Olivier" from Russian!)

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Потому что проклятые лягушатники украли у нас это коренное англосаксонское выражение!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Потому что проклятые лягушонки у нас украли это коренное англосаксонское выражение!

They stole the whole language! Only Anglo-Saxes are true heirs of the great Normandian culture!

Потому что проклятые лягушонки стащили у нас! это коренное англосаксонское выражение!

Лягушонки goes here for a joke instead of заезженного "лягушатники"

Originally Posted by Eugene-p

Потому что проклятые лягушонки стащили у нас! это коренное англосаксонское выражение!

Лягушонки goes here for a joke instead of заезженного "лягушатники"

"Лягушонки" means "little frogs", not "frog-eaters". I could invent a word like "лягушоночники" in case "лягушатники" is too ordinary for you .

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"

Class Throbert! Quite true. Isn't tête-à-tête quite an intimate chat though?

Info: When English words or expressions miss that certain "je ne sais quois" , French often comes to the rescue...

"Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.

It's not necessary to know all these, but if you see some French words thrown into a text, then that's what's going on... It tends to be better educated people who use these types of expressions. Comprendez?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Info: When English words or expressions miss that certain "je ne sais quois" , French often comes to the rescue...

"Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.

In Russian in such situations we simply say: "х/з".

Originally Posted by Johanna

Comprendez?

Натюрлихъ!

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Originally Posted by Johanna

"Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.

In Russian in such situations we simply say: "х/з".

Hmm... I doubt that. Х/з is a rude "expression" and doesn't actually mean the same as "je ne sais quois". If I were to need to translate "je ne sais quois" into Russian, I'd probably translate it as "изюминка" (depending on context, of course, but...).