natter
See also: Natter and nätter
English
Etymology
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
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈnætɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnætə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: nat‧ter
Verb
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
- nattersome
Translations
to talk idly
|
Noun
natter (plural natters)
- (colloquial) Mindless and irrelevant chatter.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:chatter
Anagrams
- Arnett, attern, net art, ratten, tarten, treant
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
natter
- Comparative form of nat
Anagrams
- ratten, tarten
French
Etymology
natte + -er
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /na.te/
Audio (file)
Verb
natter
- to plait; to braid
Conjugation
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
- dénatter
Further reading
- “natter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- entrât, ratent, râtent, rentât, tarent