natter
English edit
Etymology edit
From a Northern England dialectal variant of gnatter (also knatter) ("to chatter, grumble; nibble away at"), ultimately of imitative origin. Cognate with German Low German gnattern (“to mumble, grumble, be grouchy”).
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈnætɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnætə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: nat‧ter
Verb edit
natter (third-person singular simple present natters, present participle nattering, simple past and past participle nattered)
- (colloquial) To talk casually; to discuss unimportant matters.
- What are you guys nattering about? You're clearly not following the meeting!
- (Scotland) To nag.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to talk idly
Noun edit
natter (plural natters)
- (colloquial) Mindless and irrelevant chatter.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:chatter
Anagrams edit
Dutch edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Adjective edit
natter
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
natter
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of natter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive | simple | natter | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | nattant /na.tɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | natté /na.te/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | natte /nat/ |
nattes /nat/ |
natte /nat/ |
nattons /na.tɔ̃/ |
nattez /na.te/ |
nattent /nat/ |
imperfect | nattais /na.tɛ/ |
nattais /na.tɛ/ |
nattait /na.tɛ/ |
nattions /na.tjɔ̃/ |
nattiez /na.tje/ |
nattaient /na.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | nattai /na.te/ |
nattas /na.ta/ |
natta /na.ta/ |
nattâmes /na.tam/ |
nattâtes /na.tat/ |
nattèrent /na.tɛʁ/ | |
future | natterai /na.tʁe/ |
natteras /na.tʁa/ |
nattera /na.tʁa/ |
natterons /na.tʁɔ̃/ |
natterez /na.tʁe/ |
natteront /na.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | natterais /na.tʁɛ/ |
natterais /na.tʁɛ/ |
natterait /na.tʁɛ/ |
natterions /na.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
natteriez /na.tə.ʁje/ |
natteraient /na.tʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | natte /nat/ |
nattes /nat/ |
natte /nat/ |
nattions /na.tjɔ̃/ |
nattiez /na.tje/ |
nattent /nat/ |
imperfect2 | nattasse /na.tas/ |
nattasses /na.tas/ |
nattât /na.ta/ |
nattassions /na.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
nattassiez /na.ta.sje/ |
nattassent /na.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | natte /nat/ |
— | nattons /na.tɔ̃/ |
nattez /na.te/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “natter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.