говорить vs разговаривать
govorit' vs razgovarivat' — speak/say vs have a conversation
Register: neutral
What it really means
Говорить means speak, say, or talk in a broad sense: говорить по-русски, говорить правду, говорить о работе. Разговаривать stresses an exchange between people, usually with с + instrumental or о + prepositional. It is not normally used for saying a particular word or for speaking a language.
Both are imperfective. Choose разговаривать when the conversation itself is the activity; choose говорить for language ability, reported content, and one-sided speech.
Examples in natural speech
Она говорит по-русски и по-французски.
She speaks Russian and French.
Не говори никому эту новость.
Don't tell anyone this news.
Мы разговаривали с соседями во дворе.
We were talking with the neighbours in the yard.
Они долго разговаривали о поездке.
They talked about the trip for a long time.
Учитель говорит очень медленно.
The teacher speaks very slowly.
Common mistakes
Do not say разговаривать по-русски for “speak Russian”; use говорить по-русски. Conversely, говорить с кем-то is possible, but разговаривать с кем-то better highlights a mutual conversation.
Memory tip
Говорить delivers speech; разговор is a conversation, so разговаривать means “to do a разговор.”
Frequently asked questions
Can говорить mean talk?
Yes. Говорить с другом can mean talk to a friend, but разговаривать more clearly means converse.
Which verb goes with languages?
Use говорить: говорить по-русски, говорить по-английски.
What case follows разговаривать с?
С takes the instrumental: разговаривать с сестрой.
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