to talk
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to talk
To express oneself orally in order to communicate with someone or express thoughts. It is the general activity of speaking.
Wir müssen unbedingt miteinander reden, um das Problem zu lösen.
We absolutely need to talk to each other in order to solve the problem.
to talk about
To make a specific topic the subject of a conversation.
Auf der Party haben alle nur über den neuen Film geredet.
At the party, everyone only talked about the new film.
to speak badly about
To express oneself negatively or disparagingly about a person or thing.
Es gehört sich nicht, schlecht über Kollegen zu reden.
It is not proper to speak badly about colleagues.
to convince oneself
To convince oneself of something that often does not correspond to reality or is negative.
Rede dir nicht ein, dass du die Prüfung nicht schaffen kannst!
Don't convince yourself that you can't pass the exam!
to appeal to someone's conscience
To urgently appeal to someone's morality or sense of responsibility in order to bring about a change in behavior.
Sein Vater hat ihm lange ins Gewissen geredet, bis er den Fehler zugab.
His father appealed to his conscience for a long time until he admitted the mistake.
The verb 'reden' (to talk) is often used with prepositions that describe the conversation more precisely. You talk 'mit' (with) a person (dative), 'über' (about) a topic (accusative), or 'von' (of/about) a topic (dative).
Ich muss dringend mit dir reden.
I urgently need to talk with you.
The verb 'reden' (to talk) is the basis for the noun 'die Rede', which means 'speech' or 'talk'. Someone who can talk well is 'redegewandt' (eloquent).
Der Präsident hielt eine wichtige Rede.
The president gave an important speech.
To indicate the topic of a conversation, the preposition 'über' (about) with the accusative is almost always used. This construction is very common.
Worüber habt ihr die ganze Zeit geredet?
What were you talking about the whole time?
A negative statement about someone is expressed with the fixed structure 'schlecht über jemanden/etwas reden' (to speak badly about someone/something). The adverb 'schlecht' (badly) comes directly before the preposition.
Ich mag es nicht, wenn Leute schlecht über ihre Freunde reden.
I don't like it when people speak badly about their friends.
The phrase 'sich etwas einreden' (to convince oneself of something) uses a reflexive pronoun in the dative. The person who convinces themselves of something is in the dative (mir, dir, sich), and the thing being convinced of is in the accusative.
Rede dir keinen Unsinn ein!
Don't convince yourself of any nonsense!
The idiom 'jemandem ins Gewissen reden' (to appeal to someone's conscience) requires a dative object. This object is the person whose behavior is meant to be influenced.
Ihre Mutter hat ihr wegen der schlechten Noten ins Gewissen geredet.
Her mother appealed to her conscience because of the bad grades.
to speak
Here, reden refers to the current activity: someone is expressing themselves orally and communicating. Sprechen, by contrast, is also used for the lasting ability to know a particular language. Sprechen is therefore the appropriate word when describing language skills.
In der Pause reden die neuen Kollegen gerade Deutsch miteinander.
During the break, the new colleagues are talking to each other in German.
Die neuen Kollegen sprechen schon sehr gut Deutsch.
The new colleagues already speak German very well.
