{"id":12178,"date":"2020-11-18T23:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T23:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12178"},"modified":"2020-11-18T10:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:53:45","slug":"sprechen-reden-sagen-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/sprechen-reden-sagen-whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Sprechen, Reden, Sagen – What’s The Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Recently I wrote a post recapping the verb sprechen \u2013<\/a> to speak, talk, or say. Like in English, there are several words in German with similar meanings to the word sprechen. I thought it might be useful as a follow-up post to go through some of these words and give some example sentences of each in use. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

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Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Sprechen \u2013 to speak<\/h3>\n

This is probably the most common verb out of this list, and the one you learn first at school or in German lessons. After all, you learn very early on how to say, “Ich spreche Deutsch” (“I speak German”)! Sprechen is more formal than its counterparts sagen and reden, and does not necessarily indicate a conversation is taking place.<\/p>\n

Ich spreche Deutsch<\/strong> \u2013 I speak German.<\/p>\n

Sie kann kaum sprechen<\/strong> \u2013 She can hardly speak.<\/p>\n

There are several, other verbs that contain the verb sprechen, such as ansprechen (to address someone) and besprechen (to discuss something).<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sagen \u2013 to say, to tell<\/h3>\n

Sagen is used when reporting speech, either past or present; discussing abstract meanings (‘what does that say to you?’); and suggests a speaker-listener relationship.<\/p>\n

Ich sage die Wahrheit<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m telling the truth.<\/p>\n

Was hast du getan? Sag es mir<\/strong>\u00a0– What did you do? Tell me.<\/p>\n

Sagt dir das etwas?<\/strong> – Does that say anything to you?<\/p>\n

Was sagst du dazu?<\/strong> – What do you have to say about that?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Reden \u2013 to talk, to chat<\/h3>\n

Reden is a more informal way of talking. It also suggests that some sort of conversation is taking place:<\/p>\n

Wir haben viel geredet<\/strong> \u2013 We chatted\/talked a lot.<\/p>\n

Sie reden nur \u00fcber ihre Probleme<\/strong> \u2013 They only talk about their problems.<\/p>\n

Ich rede mit mir selbst <\/strong>\u2013 I talk to myself.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

*<\/p>\n

Erz\u00e4hlen \u2013 to tell, to narrate<\/h3>\n

Erz\u00e4hlen is used when telling stories- not necessarily just in fiction, but when one person tells another something, including lies:<\/p>\n

Erz\u00e4hl mir etwas \u00fcber dich<\/strong> \u2013 Tell me something about yourself.<\/p>\n

Ich habe ihm alles erz\u00e4hlt<\/strong> \u2013 I told him everything.<\/p>\n

Das muss ich dir unbedingt erz\u00e4hlen<\/strong> \u2013 I absolutely must tell you about this.<\/p>\n

Erz\u00e4hl mir keine M\u00e4rchen!<\/strong> – Don’t tell me any lies (M\u00e4rchen: fairytales)!<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Erkl\u00e4ren \u2013 to explain<\/h3>\n

Quite a straight-forward one, but worth including, as explaining is a big part of speech, too!<\/p>\n

Das habe ich schon erkl\u00e4rt<\/strong> \u2013 I already explained that.<\/p>\n

Ich kann alles erkl\u00e4ren<\/strong> \u2013 I can explain everything.<\/p>\n

Kannst du mir das bitte erkl\u00e4ren?<\/strong> – Can you explain that to me, please?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Plaudern \u2013 to chat<\/h3>\n

Plaudern is a very informal, casual way of chatting, sometimes \u2013 but not always – meaning that the chat isn\u2019t of very high quality (eg. gossip, small talk). It would not be used in a formal setting.<\/p>\n

Sie plaudern wie alte Freunde<\/strong> \u2013 They chat like old friends<\/p>\n

Aus dem N\u00e4hk\u00e4stchen plaudern<\/strong> \u2013 (Saying) To gossip about someone\u2019s private matters<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Ratschen (ratschn) \u2013 to chat<\/h3>\n

This word is used in southern Germany and Austria. It is informal, and basically means the same as \u2018plaudern\u2019 and \u2018reden\u2019.<\/p>\n

Wir haben viel geratscht<\/strong> \u2013 We chatted a lot.<\/p>\n

Sie ratscht \u00fcber alles<\/strong> \u2013 She talks\/gossips about everything.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Courtney Nuss on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope this has helped clarify the difference between some of the \u2018speaking words\u2019 used in German. Are there any more you can think of?<\/p>\n

Bis bald!<\/em>
\nConstanze <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Recently I wrote a post recapping the verb sprechen \u2013 to speak, talk, or say. Like in English, there are several words in German with similar meanings to the word sprechen. I thought it might be useful as a follow-up post to go through some of these words and give some example sentences…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":12181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[95131,6,376023,95158,980,3412,2538,533812,166],"class_list":["post-12178","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-german-language","tag-grammar","tag-language","tag-same-meaning","tag-same-words","tag-small-talk","tag-speaking","tag-sprechen","tag-verbs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12178"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12186,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions\/12186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}