Holde op is the everyday Danish way to say "stop" in the sense of ceasing an activity. It is built on the strong verb holde ("hold") plus the particle op, and it carries a grammatical trap that catches almost every English speaker: the infinitive after it is introduced by med at, not a bare at. Get that frame right and the verb is easy.
Principal parts
The base verb holde is strong, with the irregular past holdt. The particle op rides along unchanged.
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| at holde op | holder op | holdt op | holdt op | hold op! |
The perfect is formed with har: har holdt op. Although "stopping" feels like a change of state, holde op is treated as an activity verb in Danish and takes har, not er — Jeg har holdt op med at ryge ("I've stopped smoking"). Save være for genuine motion-and-arrival verbs.
The core frame: holde op med at + infinitive
When you stop doing something, Danish requires the particle med plus the infinitive marker at. The literal logic is "hold up with doing" — med ("with") links you to the activity you are quitting.
Hold op med at ryge — det er dårligt for dit helbred.
Stop smoking — it's bad for your health.
Han holdt op med at arbejde, da han fyldte tres.
He stopped working when he turned sixty.
Vil du ikke holde op med at klage?
Won't you stop complaining?
English uses a bare gerund ("stop smoking"), so learners reach for a bare infinitive and produce the wrong holde op at ryge. The med is not optional and not stylistic — without it the sentence is simply ungrammatical.
Holde op with a noun, and the bare command Hold op!
You can also holde op med a noun — holde op med arbejdet ("stop the work"). And on its own, the imperative Hold op! is one of the most common things you will hear: "Stop it! / Cut it out! / Quit it!" It is also used as a surprised exclamation, roughly "No way! / Come on!"
Hold op med det der — du gør ham ked af det.
Stop that — you're upsetting him.
Hold op! Du kan da ikke mene det.
Come on! You can't possibly mean that.
Børnene holdt op med larmen, så snart læreren kom ind.
The children stopped the noise the moment the teacher came in.
Holde op vs stoppe, standse and ophøre
Danish has a small family of "stop" verbs, and they are not interchangeable. The decisive question is what stops.
| Verb | What it stops | Register |
|---|---|---|
| holde op (med) | an activity / a person doing something | neutral, everyday |
| stoppe | an activity OR a moving thing; also "to plug/fill" | neutral, everyday |
| standse | a moving thing (a car, a train, traffic) | neutral, slightly formal |
| ophøre (med) | cease (abstract, official) | formal / bureaucratic |
The line that matters most: a vehicle or a moving body does not holde op — it standser or stopper. Holde op is about ending an activity, not halting motion. So "the bus stopped" is Bussen standsede / Bussen stoppede, never Bussen holdt op (which would mean the bus quit some activity, like quit honking).
Regnen holdt op ved middagstid.
The rain stopped around noon.
Toget standsede på den lille station.
The train stopped at the little station.
For abstract, formal "cease," reach for ophøre: Tilskuddet ophørte i 2024 ("The subsidy ceased in 2024"). It is (formal) and would sound stiff in conversation. For the full side-by-side, see standse, stoppe and holde op.
Holde op vs holde and its other particles
Do not confuse phrasal holde op ("stop") with the bare verb holde, which has a wide spread of meanings — "hold," "keep," "throw (a party)," and, importantly, "halt/stop" when it is a car that comes to a standstill. A driver pulling over says Jeg holder ind til siden ("I'm pulling over"), and holde on its own can mean "be parked/stationary": Bilen holder uden for huset ("The car is parked outside the house"). This is a genuine false friend with holde op — the parked-car holde has nothing to do with ceasing an activity.
Bilen holdt stille ved rødt lys.
The car stood still at the red light.
Vi holder fest på lørdag — kommer du?
We're throwing a party on Saturday — are you coming?
So holde alone keeps its everyday "hold/keep" senses, while only holde op (with the particle) means "cease." If you want the related particle verb holde af ("be fond of"), that is a separate entry; see holde af.
English contrast: "stop doing" vs "stop to do"
English hides a meaning difference in the form after "stop." Stop smoking (gerund) means quit the habit; stop to smoke (infinitive) means pause in order to smoke. Danish keeps these apart with completely different structures. "Stop doing X" is holde op med at + verb. "Stop in order to do X" is standse/stoppe for at + verb — a purpose clause with for at, not holde op at all.
Han holdt op med at ryge sidste år.
He stopped smoking (quit) last year.
Han standsede for at ryge en cigaret.
He stopped to smoke a cigarette (paused for that purpose).
Mixing these up produces real misunderstandings, so anchor it: med at = quitting the activity; for at = pausing to start one.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hold op at ryge.
Incorrect — the linking med is missing before at.
✅ Hold op med at ryge.
Stop smoking.
❌ Bussen holdt op ved stoppestedet.
Incorrect — a vehicle halting takes standse/stoppe, not holde op.
✅ Bussen standsede ved stoppestedet.
The bus stopped at the bus stop.
❌ Jeg er holdt op med at drikke kaffe.
Incorrect — holde op takes har in the perfect, not er.
✅ Jeg har holdt op med at drikke kaffe.
I've stopped drinking coffee.
❌ Han holdte op med at græde.
Incorrect — holde is strong; the past is holdt, not holdte.
✅ Han holdt op med at græde.
He stopped crying.
❌ Hold op med larme!
Incorrect — med needs a noun (larmen) or med at + verb (at larme).
✅ Hold op med at larme!
Stop making noise!
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: holde op – holder op – holdt op – holdt op; perfect always with har.
- An infinitive after it needs the full frame med at: holde op med at + verb.
- Hold op! alone = "Stop it! / Come on!"
- It ends activities; a moving vehicle standser / stopper instead.
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Standse, Stoppe, Holde Op: StoppingB1 — A decision guide for the three Danish verbs meaning 'stop' — standse (halt, of motion), stoppe (stop/plug), and holde op med (stop doing an activity).
- Holde afB2 — Full reference for the phrasal verb holde af ('to be fond of / to care for') — the strong forms holder af / holdt af / holdt af, where it sits on the Danish affection scale, and how it differs from kunne lide and elske.
- Phrasal Verbs and ParticlesB1 — Danish verb + particle combinations, the stress rule that distinguishes a separable phrasal verb from a verb + preposition, and the most common particles and their meanings.