# To chat - לפטפּט - לשוחח



## facarraro

Shalom kulam!

I just saw these two verbs that apparently mean "to chat", as in having an informal conversation with friends. With that in mind, 2 questions:

1 - Are they both day-to-day words, or does one sound more natural than the other? Which one would you use?

2 - Would this " אני רק פיטפטתי עם כמה חברים. " and this " אני רק שוחחתי עם כמה חברים." be correct?

Todah!


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## slus

Both verbs are correct and used, but both are old fashioned and I wouldn't use any of them in this context, but simply לדבר.
אני רק דיברתי עם כמה חברים.

לפטפט is an old slang, meaning to chat about trivial things. Old teachers sometimes yell at their students תפסיקו לפטפט.

לשוחח is higher register. It doesn't mean to chat but to converse, or rather to have a conversation.


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## Ali Smith

What conjugation is לשוחח from? What is the third masculine singular of the past tense?


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## slus

It comes from the root שיח
The word שיחה also comes from the same root.
הוא שוחח.
There's also שח meaning almost the same thing, but while שוחח is with other people, שח usually refers to a monologue. It is very high register.


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## LXNDR

Ali Smith said:


> What conjugation is לשוחח from? What is the third masculine singular of the past tense?



It's Pi'el (Polal to be exact, its variation) which due to the root's middle letter being Yud שיח assumes this specific form. Compare לשוטט, לאושש, לעודד

3d person masc singular is שוחח (sokhakh or sokheakh)

לוחות נטיית הפועל - האקדמיה ללשון העברית


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## facarraro

slus said:


> Both verbs are correct and used, but both are old fashioned and I wouldn't use any of them in this context, but simply לדבר.
> אני רק דיברתי עם כמה חברים.
> 
> לפטפט is an old slang, meaning to chat about trivial things. Old teachers sometimes yell at their students תפסיקו לפטפט.
> 
> לשוחח is higher register. It doesn't mean to chat but to converse, or rather to have a conversation.



Perfect, thanks a lot!


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## Ali Smith

לשוחח might be very formal, but its active participle, שח (masculine) or שחה (feminine), is commonly used in the expression מה אתה שח! or מה את שחה! (What on earth are you saying?)

This is what my textbook had:

הם אפילו מכינים בננה ספליט כמו אצלכם באמריקה.

מה אתה שח!


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## slus

Is your textbook new? מה אתה שח is either old or high register.


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## Ali Smith

No, it's old.
So, in Modern Hebrew how would you say "What on earth are you saying?"
My guess: מה אתה אומר!


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## slus

I can imagine people saying מה אתה שח, but mockingly. מה אתה אומר is the more natural way.


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