Stop it!

How do you say it in Italian?

Smettila!

Words you should know	Smettere (to stop) + la (it, feminine)
When to use this	With 1 person you’re familiar with
When NOT to use this	With strangers and groups

For example, you can say…

Mi stai facendo male, smettila!
You’re hurting me, stop it!

Non è divertente! Smettila!
It’s not funny! Stop it!

Smetti is the second person singular conjugation of smettere, to stop, in the imperative mood.

If you’re a bit familiar with Italian direct object pronouns, you will know that the pronoun la is the feminine translation of the English word “it” (lo is the masculine pronoun). This is because Italian has two genders, masculine and feminine, unlike English which only has one.

You translate stop it in Italian as smetterla because the pronoun is merged to the verb itself, dropping its final -e.

So why is the feminine pronoun used here? Why is it not smetterLO? There’s no logical reason, it all comes down to the verb being this way. You can’t say “smetterlo” in Italian as much as you can’t say “to make a shower” in English.

Smettetela!

When to use this	With a group of people
When NOT to use this	With strangers and 1 person at a time

IfThe imperative conjugation of the verb smettere for the pronoun voi (plural you) is smettete.

You will then need to add the direct object pronoun, -la. This is why we say smettetela.

For example, you can say…

Smettetela, bambine! Il papà sta dormendo.
Stop it, children! Dad is sleeping.

Ragazzi, smettetela. Non litigate.
Guys, stop it. Don’t fight.

La smetta!

When to use this	With 1 person you’re NOT familiar with
When NOT to use this	With friends, family and groups

When speaking formally, Italians address each other with the subject “she”, lei. Use Lei in the written form if you want to be very polite.

La smetta di importunarmi, per favore!
Please stop bothering me!

For example, if a stranger is bothering you, you would use this sentence because you are not familiar with them. Any person you are not on familiar terms with will need to be addressed with the formal You in Italian.

Now, direct object pronouns in Italian have a special feature: when a formal imperative is present, any direct object pronoun goes before the verb. This is why we say la smetta, and not smettala.

Fermati! Fermatevi! Si fermi!

These three exclamations translate stop! in Italian.

Fermati! Ti ho detto di fermarti!
Stop! I said, stop!

While smettere means to stop, it’s more geared towards actions, eg. to stop doing something. The verb fermare, however, is the direct translation of to stop into Italian: to cease all movement.

All three sentences use the reflexive form of fermare, which is fermarsi, in the imperative mood.

io	—
tu	fermati
lui, lei	si fermi
noi	fermiamoci
voi	fermatevi
loro	si fermino

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