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When someone is getting on your nerves, Italian has a specific set of expressions to tell them to stop: **smetterla**, **finirla**, and **piantarla**.

These are "pronominal verbs," meaning they have a pronoun permanently attached to them. In this case, the fixed pronoun **la** represents the annoying situation or behavior—the "it" in "stop it!"

### Smetterla

Derived from *smettere* (to stop), **smetterla** means "to stop it." When giving a direct command to a single person (the *tu* form), use **smettila**. If you want to name exactly what they need to stop doing, follow it with the preposition **con** (with).

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You can also leave the verb in its infinitive form when pairing it with a modal verb like *dovere* (to have to / must).

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### Finirla

Formed from *finire* (to finish), **finirla** translates to "to cut it out." Its *tu* command form is **finiscila**.

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### Piantarla

While *piantare* literally means "to plant" or "to abandon," the expression **piantarla** is a colorful, very common way to say "to knock it off." The command form is **piantala**.

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### Nuisance Behaviors

You will frequently use these verbs of cessation to put an end to behaviors that are **fastidioso** (annoying) or **snervante** (nerve-wracking). Two common verbs for describing this kind of nuisance are **assillare** (to pester) and **stuzzicare** (to tease).

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Stopping an action (smetterla, finirla, piantarla)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
to stop it	smetterla
racket	il baccano
Stop it with this racket!	Smettila con questo baccano!
nerve-wracking	snervante
They are making a nerve-wracking racket, they must stop it.	Stanno facendo un baccano snervante, devono smetterla.
to cut it out	finirla
complaint (moan, lament)	il lamento
Cut it out with these complaints!	Finiscila con questi lamenti!
annoying	fastidioso
He must cut it out, he is too annoying.	Lui deve finirla, è troppo fastidioso.
to knock it off	piantarla
to pester	assillare
Knock it off, you are pestering grandpa!	Piantala, stai assillando il nonno!
nonsense	la sciocchezza
Knock it off with this nonsense!	Piantala con queste sciocchezze!
What he says is just annoying nonsense.	Quello che dice è solo una sciocchezza fastidiosa.
to tease	stuzzicare
Why do you continue to pester and tease your sister?	Perché continui ad assillare e stuzzicare tua sorella?
That boy is always teasing the cat, it's nerve-wracking.	Quel ragazzino stuzzica sempre il gatto, è snervante.
This complaint is more annoying than that racket.	Questo lamento è più fastidioso di quel baccano.
to put an end to	mettere fine
We must put an end to this problem.	Dobbiamo mettere fine a questo problema.
The government put an end to the strike.	Il governo ha messo fine allo sciopero.

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