how to say “to chitchat” in Hebrew
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לְדַבֵּר (leh-dah-BEHR) is to speak or to talk, presumably about things of substance.
But if the דיבור (dee-BOOR) – speech – is decidedly without substance – in other words, a simple chitchat, the Hebrew word is לְפַטְפֵּט (leh-faht-PET) for the action (to chitchat), and פִּטְפּוּט (peet-POOT) for the advent (of chitchatting). A chatterbox – someone who engages in פטפוט on a regular basis – is a פַּטְפְּטָן (paht-peh-TAHN – for a male) or a פַּטְפְּטָנִית (paht-peh-tah-NEET – for a female).
This verb follows the active-intensive pattern.
A more slangy synonym is לְקַשְׁקֵש (leh-kahsh-KESH) the verb, and קִשְׁקוּש (keesh-KOOSH) the noun, also of the active-intensive variety. לקשקש also means to scribble.
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