labern
German edit
Etymology edit
An originally Central and Low German verb, from Middle Low German labbern (“to drink like a dog; to slurp”). Related to laff (“slack”, here of the tongue).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
labern (weak, third-person singular present labert, past tense laberte, past participle gelabert, auxiliary haben)
- (obsolete, except possibly regionally) to slurp; to drink noisily
- (informal) to talk or speak unnecessarily lengthily; to talk idly; to engage in unsubstantiated talk; to babble
- Synonyms: schwatzen, schwätzen, schwafeln, herumeiern
- Als guter Politiker hat unser Bürgermeister auf der Bühne so lange gelabert, dass die Verspätung des Orchesters gar nicht auffiel.
- Being a good politician, our mayor extended his speech on stage so much that the delayed appearance of the orchestra went unnoticed.
- Wenn der Peter mal gute Laune hat, hört er den ganzen Abend nicht auf zu labern.
- When Peter is in a good mood for once, he won’t stop babbling for the rest of the night.
- (colloquial) to chat; to talk among each other (usually about light topics); the verb retains a certain nuance, but becomes rather neutral
Conjugation edit
| infinitive | labern | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | labernd | ||||
| past participle | gelabert | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich labre ich labere ich laber |
wir labern | i | ich labere ich labre |
wir labern |
| du laberst | ihr labert | du laberest du labrest |
ihr laberet ihr labret | ||
| er labert | sie labern | er labere er labre |
sie labern | ||
| preterite | ich laberte | wir laberten | ii | ich laberte1 | wir laberten1 |
| du labertest | ihr labertet | du labertest1 | ihr labertet1 | ||
| er laberte | sie laberten | er laberte1 | sie laberten1 | ||
| imperative | labre (du) laber (du) labere (du) |
labert (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.