(tán tán) - to have a chat, to talk a bit in Mandarin
tántánTraditional: 談談
Translation
to have a chat, to talk a bit
Word origin
A reduplication of 談 (tán) 'to talk'. 談 is a phono-semantic compound with 言 (speech) as radical and 炎 (yán) as phonetic. Doubling the verb softens it to 'have a chat'.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 談 (tán, to talk: 言 speech + 炎 phonetic), reduplicated
Stroke order
谈
谈
Examples
。
Let's talk about this matter.
?
Can you have a chat with him?
。
I'd like to share my thoughts with you.
。
Let us sit down and have a chat.
。
Please tell me a bit about your ideas.
谈谈 (tán tán) is the reduplicated form of 谈 (tán, to talk or discuss). Verb reduplication in Mandarin adds a sense of doing something briefly, casually, or tentatively - so 谈谈 means to have a quick chat or talk a little about something. It softens the request compared to 谈 alone and is common in conversational invitations such as 来谈谈 (let's talk) or 想谈谈 (want to discuss).
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 11.