About "tala" and "prata"

Language Specific Swedish
#1

Hej,

I have a problem with differentiating tala and prata. As far as I can see from the wiktionnary, they are pretty much synonyms:

  • Prata:
    • producera ljud av ord, ofta i kommunikationssyfte mellan människor - Synonymer: tala
    • kunna tala ett visst specifierat språk - Synonymer: tala
  • Tala
    • producera ljud av ord, ofta i kommunikationssyfte mellan människor - Synonymer: prata
    • kunna tala ett visst språk - Synonymer: prata

Seeing this, I was going, each time I found one, to add as an alternative correct answer the other one. For example, lately I’ve had these ones:

Jag tycker inte att vi **pratar** om det något mer.

Får jag **tala** med Tom?

Would it be fine to assume those two verbs are interchangeable (in these sentences, and in general), or is there a nuance I am missing.

Tack så mycket : )

#2

They can often be used interchangeably, but there are differences in nuance: prata is more casual, it’s about letting your mouth flow. For instance, I would say “Tom talar fem språk flytande”, but “Tom pratar på tyska med sin häst”. “Papegojan pratade oavbrutet”. It’s no coincidence that we say “engelsktalande länder”, not *engelskpratande.

It should be noted that in many cases we prefer using one over the other:

  • tala sanning
  • prata strunt/dumheter
  • tala illa/gott om någon
  • tala allvar med någon
  • tala klarspråk
  • tala i tungor

talar is fine, too

You could use prata as well.

Hope this helps!

2 Likes
#3
English Translation

Let’s not talk about it anymore.

The translation is misleading to me. It is an observation, not a request. Something like ‘I don’t think we talk about it any longer’. Still a bit weird though.