stoppa ("to stop") is the everyday, conversational word for stopping — the one you actually hear on the bus, in the car, and in casual speech. It is a weak Class-1 verb built on a Germanic loan, and like nota and vona it has an o-stem, so it takes no u-umlaut (stoppum, never stöppum). The thing learners most need from this card is not the conjugation — which is fully regular — but knowing which "stop" to use: stoppa is colloquial and works both intransitively (the bus stops) and transitively (stop the car), while stöðva is its formal cousin and hætta means "stop doing, quit." This page sorts those out.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 1 (the -aði preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef stoppað "I have stopped." (Intransitively you will also hear vera in some uses, but hafa is the default.)
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að stoppa |
| 3sg present | stoppar |
| 3sg past | stoppaði |
| Supine | stoppað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | stoppa | stoppaði |
| þú | stoppar | stoppaðir |
| hann / hún / það | stoppar | stoppaði |
| við | stoppum | stoppuðum |
| þið | stoppið | stoppuðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | stoppa | stoppuðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | stoppi | stoppaði |
| þú | stoppir | stoppaðir |
| hann / hún / það | stoppi | stoppaði |
| við | stoppum | stoppuðum |
| þið | stoppið | stoppuðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | stoppi | stoppuðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | stoppaðu |
| Imperative (þið) | stoppið! |
| Supine | stoppað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | stoppaður / stoppuð / stoppað |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | stoppast — "to get stopped / come to a halt" (less common) |
Intransitive: something stops
Used intransitively, stoppa means "come to a stop, halt" — the subject does the stopping itself, no object. This is the strætó stoppar "the bus stops" sense.
Strætó stoppar við hornið á Laugavegi.
The bus stops at the corner of Laugavegur.
Klukkan stoppaði um miðja nótt.
The clock stopped in the middle of the night.
Transitive: stop something
Used transitively (+ accusative), stoppa means "stop, halt something" — stoppa bílinn "stop the car." In careful or formal writing you would more likely reach for stöðva here, but in speech stoppa is entirely normal.
Stoppaðu bílinn, ég þarf að kasta af mér vatni!
Stop the car, I need to take a leak!
Lögreglan stoppaði okkur á leiðinni.
The police stopped us on the way.
stoppa við — "stop by, make a short stop"
stoppa við means "stop by / make a brief stop," and plain stoppa (intransitive) is also the everyday word for "stay a (short) while": ég stoppa stutt "I'm only staying a short while / I can't stay long."
Ég stoppa stutt, ég þarf að fara fljótt.
I can't stay long, I have to leave soon.
Eigum við að stoppa við bensínstöðina?
Shall we stop by the petrol station?
stoppa vs stöðva vs hætta
This three-way choice is the real content of the card:
| Verb | Meaning | Register / use |
|---|---|---|
| stoppa | stop, halt (intr. & trans.) | (informal) — everyday speech; "the bus stops," "stop the car" |
| stöðva | halt, bring to a stop (trans.) | (formal) — news, official notices: "stöðva umferð" stop traffic |
| hætta | stop doing, quit, cease | neutral — takes að + infinitive or a dative: "hætta að reykja" |
The key split for English speakers: English "stop" covers both "come to a halt" and "stop doing." Icelandic uses stoppa/stöðva for the halt sense and hætta for the "quit an activity" sense. "Stop smoking" is hætta að reykja, never stoppa að reykja.
Þú verður að hætta að naga á þér neglurnar.
You have to stop biting your nails.
A side sense: stoppa í sokka — "darn socks"
In a completely separate, homely sense, stoppa means "darn, mend" — stoppa í sokka "darn socks." Worth recognising even if you never do it.
Amma sat og stoppaði í sokka allan daginn.
Grandma sat darning socks all day.
Common Mistakes
❌ Við stöppum hérna í smá stund.
Incorrect — stoppa has an o-stem, so no u-umlaut; the 'we' form is stoppum, never stöppum
✅ Við stoppum hérna í smá stund.
We'll stop here for a little while.
❌ Ég ætla að stoppa að reykja.
Incorrect — 'stop DOING something' is hætta að + infinitive, not stoppa að
✅ Ég ætla að hætta að reykja.
I'm going to stop smoking.
❌ Þau stöppuðu á rauðu ljósi.
Incorrect — the past plural keeps the o-stem: stoppuðu, not stöppuðu
✅ Þau stoppuðu á rauðu ljósi.
They stopped at the red light.
❌ Lögreglan stoppaði umferðina á Miklubraut.
Acceptable colloquially, but in formal/news register the verb is stöðva: stöðvaði umferðina
✅ Lögreglan stöðvaði umferðina á Miklubraut.
The police halted traffic on Miklabraut.
Key Takeaways
- stoppa / stoppar / stoppaði / stoppað — a regular weak Class-1 verb; past in -aði; keep the double pp.
- No u-umlaut: the o-stem stays o — stoppum, stoppuðum, never stöppum.
- Works both intransitively (strætó stoppar) and transitively (stoppa bílinn).
- Register: stoppa (informal) vs stöðva (formal, transitive); use hætta að
- infinitive for "stop doing."
- Side sense: stoppa í
- acc = "darn, mend" (stoppa í sokka).
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- hætta (to stop / quit)A2 — Full conjugation of the weak Class-2 verb hætta (hætti / hætti / hættu / hætt), with the æ-stem that never u-umlauts, the dative in hætta einhverju 'quit something', and the constructions hætta að + infinitive 'stop doing' and hætta við 'cancel'.
- The Weak Preterite: -aði, -di, -ði, -tiA2 — How to choose and form the weak past tense — Class-1 -a verbs take -aði (tala → talaði, plural töluðum), Class-2 verbs take the short dental -di/-ði/-ti picked by the preceding sound (reyndi, dæmdi, keypti) — with the full tala paradigm and the 'when in doubt, -aði' default for unknown verbs.