Dobbiamo smetterla ora.

now

Breakdown of Dobbiamo smetterla ora.

• dovere: to have to
• smetterla: to stop it; cut it out

Questions & Answers about Dobbiamo smetterla ora.

What does dobbiamo mean, and what form is it?

Dobbiamo is the 1st person plural form of dovere, which means to have to / must.

So dobbiamo means:

• we must
• we have to

In this sentence, it introduces an obligation: we have to stop it / we need to cut it out now.

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Why is there no word for we in the sentence?

In Italian, the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• dobbiamo = we must / we have to

So Italian does not need noi here, although you could say Noi dobbiamo smetterla ora for emphasis.

This is very normal in Italian.

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What does smetterla mean exactly?

Smetterla is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• to stop it
• to cut it out
• to knock it off

It comes from smettere (to stop / to quit) plus the pronoun la.

As a whole, smetterla often means to stop doing that annoying, inappropriate, or ongoing thing. It is very common in spoken Italian.

For example:

• Smettila! = Stop it! / Cut it out!
• Dobbiamo smetterla. = We need to stop it / We have to cut it out.

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