How to tell someone to stop in Dutch
Would you like to tell people that they should stop in Dutch? In English you have many different options. You could say stop, enough or cut it off! Guess what? Also in Dutch there are many ways to say that someone should stop! You'll discover 9 different ways, very easy ones and some more 'advanced' options. Make sure that you'll remember a couple of them, because telling people that they must stop can be very important ;)
Stop!
Stop is the easiest one ofcourse! Just make sure that it does not sound like stap, which means step in Dutch. The o sounds more like o in fog or dog, therefore stop in Dutch sounds a bit different from stop in English.
If you use the whole verb stoppen, then it even sounds more powerful. I love to call this form the super authorative imperative, which sounds like a very strong command. It is very easy to construct, you just put the whole Dutch verb at the end. Whenever you do this, your commands will sound far more authorative...
Genoeg!
Genoeg is enough, also this word should be easy to remember. The only thing is that it has twice that G sound, but... it is very important to have it in your vocabulary. If you like, you can also say: genoeg is genoeg and then it means that you are really sick and tired of something...
Ho!
Ho! is a very short word for stop as well! It might be the reason why for Santa Claus it is quite difficult to come to the Netherlands....
If you like, you can also repeat it a couple of times in a row... ho ho!
Hou op!
Hou op! comes from ophouden and it has the word houden which means to hold... For an extra authorative effect you could also say: ophouden!
Schei uit!
Schei uit! is a bit more slang... It might have a relation with scheiden, which means to separate or divorce. Schei uit is very informal and it is good if you can recognize this word at least....
Kappen!
Kappen means that you cut down trees. It is an expression and it often implies that you stop with something abruptly and qukcly and also for good... You could say for example: we moeten kappen met deze onzin!, we have to cut this nonsense...
Even dimmen!
Even dimmen has clearly a relation with to dim in English. Dimmen means that you decrease the intensity of light or sound.
Even means for a while and normally you use it to make request more polite. For example, you could say: geef de melk (pass the milk) or geef even de melk, could you please pass the milk. However, in this case even indicates that there is an urgency right now and that it should happen right now....
Tot hier
Tot hier is until here and if you like, you could say: tot hier en niet verder,until here and not further. It simply means that somehow someone has reached a limit or a boundary
Nu even niet
Not right now (for a while) could be a subtle way to communicate that this is not the right moment. It could suggest that if you wait, it would be ok...
However, in many cases nu even niet, it often means that also in the future there will be not a right moment...
Which word or expression would you find most useful? Please share your thoughts here....