how to say “to stop” in Hebrew

ByAmi Steinberger

While English has to stop and to halt, Hebrew has לעצור
and להפסיק
.

לעצור
is to stop and basically stand still. You can also לעצור someone else, as in:

עצר אותי שוטר כי לא עצרתי בתמרור עצור.

A cop stopped me because I hadn’t stopped at a stop sign.

(The true story is that I was fiddling with my phone.)

לעצור is a simple verb.

להפסיק
means to stop or to quit doing something, as in:

מתי הפסקת לעשן?

When did you (a male) quit smoking?

You might also hear a little girl say to her brother:

תפסיק להציק לי!

Stop bothering me!

להפסיק is a הפעיל verb.

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