# to finish / to stop



## Gavril

I would define the difference between the English verbs _stop_ and _finish_ as follows:

*finish* is used when an action reaches a defined point of completion: _I finished mowing the lawn_ means that you cut all the grass on your lawn, and there was nothing more left to do.

*stop *is used when there is a breach or interruption in the course of an action: _I stopped mowing the lawn_ means that the process of mowing the lawn was interrupted because something else caught your attention, because you were tired, or for some other reason, but generally not because you completed the task.

Which languages regularly make this distinction, and which languages don't?

Thanks


----------



## ThomasK

Interesting distinction you point out, had not thought of it yet. I don't think we can make that distinction when stopping is combined with a verb (we always say 'stoppen met [with] V'). In some other cases it would be _afwerken _(lit. 'work off', where 'af-' suggests the finish, until the very end, the bottom, etc.)... Those are the facts as far as I can see for Dutch.


----------



## arielipi

Hebrew:
finish - לגמור ligmor, root g-m-r (also became more sex-associated, to cum - essentially to finish the act). לסיים lesayem root s-y-m.
stop - לעצור la'atzor (more like to halt). להפסיק lehafsik (more like to [take a] break).


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek:


To finish: *«Τελειώνω»* [te'ʎono] < Classical Gr. v. *«τελειόω/τελειῶ» tĕleióō* (uncontracted)*/tĕleiô* (contracted) --> _to make perfect, complete, accomplish_ < Classical neut. noun *«τέλος» télŏs* --> _end, limit, goal, fulfillment, accomplishment, determination_ (PIE *telh₂-, _to lift up, load onto oneself, support_).


To stop: *«Σταματάω/σταματώ»* [stama'ta.o] (uncontracted)/[stama'to] (contracted) < Byz. Gr. *«σταματῶ» stamatô* < Classical Middle voice *«ἵσταμαι» hístamai* of v. *«ἵστημι» hístēmĭ* --> _to make stand, set up, take position, bring to a standstill_ (PIE *stisteh₂- (reduplicated athematic present of the root *steh₂-), _to stand, set_).


----------



## Saluton

Russian:
 finish - заканчивать (za'kanchivat)
stop - останавливать (osta'navlivat), прерывать (prery'vat, = to adjourn, interrupt)


----------



## ThomasK

I don'think this is a side-thread: is there something in the _finish _word that refers to making complete, or contains the word 'complete', as in Greek (_telos_)?


----------



## ancalimon

Turkish:

to finish (doing something) :  bitirmek

to stop (doing something) : kesmek (to cut), bırakmak (abandon, drop)...  or simply "durmak" (to stop) but this is usually used alone.

If you are planning to continue doing the thing after you stopped doing it then:

ara vermek (literally:  to give space): to take a break


----------



## Gavril

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> To finish: *«Τελειώνω»* [te'ʎono]
> 
> To stop: *«Σταματάω/σταματώ»* [stama'ta.o]





Saluton said:


> Russian:
> finish - заканчивать (za'kanchivat)
> stop - останавливать (osta'navlivat), прерывать (prery'vat, = to adjourn, interrupt)



Just to be sure, could these verbs be used in the translation of the following English sentences?

_- I stopped mowing the lawn when I heard that dinner was ready.
__
- I finished mowing the lawn and then put the lawnmower away._


----------



## bibax

Czech:

to finish: _perf._ *dokončiti* (verbal prefix do- + _impf._ končiti = to finish < konec = finis);

Czech uses the prefix *do-* with many verbs to avoid the verb _'to finish'_.
e.g. _impf._ mluviti = to speak; _perf._ *do*mluviti = to finish speaking; or dokončiti (svou) řeč = to finish (one's) speech;

to stop: _perf._ *přestati* (verbal prefix pře- + _impf._ státi = to stand);

There are some synonyms to *přestati*, e.g. *přerušiti* (= to interrupt), but přestati does NOT imply that the activity will continue.

Examples:

Řečník *do*mluvil. = The speaker finished speaking.
Řečník *dokončil* svou řeč. = The speaker finished his speech.

Řečník (náhle) *přestal* mluvit. = (All of a sudden) the speaker stopped speaking. _(for unknown reason, it is not known if he will continue)_


----------



## apmoy70

Gavril said:


> Just to be sure, could these verbs be used in the translation of the following English sentences?
> 
> _- I stopped mowing the lawn when I heard that dinner was ready.
> __
> - I finished mowing the lawn and then put the lawnmower away._


Absolutely in Greek.
*«Σταμάτησα»* [sta'matisa] (1st p. sing. aorist ind.) for the former, and,
*«Τελείωσα»* [te'li.osa] (1st p. sing. aorist ind.) for the latter.


----------



## Saluton

ThomasK said:


> I don'think this is a side-thread: is there something in the _finish _word that refers to making complete, or contains the word 'complete', as in Greek (_telos_)?


Well, _finish_ obviously has the same stem as _final_, or as the French _fin_, or as the Latin _finire,_ which was obviously the origin of it all...


Gavril said:


> Just to be sure, could these verbs be used in the translation of the following English sentences?
> 
> _- I stopped mowing the lawn when I heard that dinner was ready.
> __
> - I finished mowing the lawn and then put the lawnmower away._


Yes, they can. In my previous post, I missed the informal verb переставать (peresta'vat), which can be used in the former sentence as well. It also means _to stop_ rather than _to finish_.


----------



## Radioh

Hi. I know I'm a little bit late. But I want to say that in Vietnamese, we do make a distinction between the two verb stop(dừng) and finish(hoàn thành). And the distinction is the same as in English, which was mentioned by Gavril in post #1.


----------



## Nino83

In Italian: 
to finish doing something = finire di fare qualcosa 
to stop doing something = smettere di fare qualcosa


----------



## Radioh

Nino83 said:


> In Italian: to finish doing something = finire di fare qualcosa to stop doing something = smettere di fare qualcosa


Is there a difference in usage between the two verb "smettere" and "finire", Nino83 ?


----------



## Nino83

Radioh said:


> Is there a difference in usage between the two verb "smettere" and "finire", Nino83 ?



Yes, there is. 
If one _finisce/termina gli studi_, it means that he completed  the course of studies (college, university) while if one _smette di studiare_ it means that he interrupted it, he left the course before completing it.


----------



## AutumnOwl

*Swedish*:
_Sluta_ - stop - _Sluta med det där_ - Stop doing that
_Avsluta_ - finish - _Hon avslutade mötet med ett tack till deltagarna_ - She finished the meeting with a Thank You to the participants.

_Stanna_ - stop -_ Han stannade bilen_ - He stopped the car/He pulled up the car 
_Avstanna _- stop, come to a standstill - _Klimatskyddet får inte avstanna_ - Climate protection must not come to a standstill

_Avbryta_ - stop, break off something - _Domaren avbröt matchen_ - The referee stopped the game. It can either be for a break or for good, you need more information to know which.


----------



## ThomasK

The _sluta _root is recognizable in Dutch: _sluiten_, 'to lock'. We only use it for locking literally, but when we add a prefix 'be-' it means 'to conclude'. That pattern resembles the semantic evolution in Latin, I guess. 

As for _avbryta _I am inclined to think it is a little too specific, that the 'finish' meaning is a secondary meaning. But I am not quite sure...


----------



## Gavril

AutumnOwl said:


> *Swedish*:
> _Sluta_ - stop - _Sluta med det där_ - Stop doing that
> _Avsluta_ - finish - _Hon avslutade mötet med ett tack till deltagarna_ - She finished the meeting with a Thank You to the participants.



Hi AutumnOwl,

What if you combine _sluta_ with a verb, e.g., _äta frukost_ "to eat breakfast"? Which of the two definitions in the original post would it be closer to?


----------



## AutumnOwl

ThomasK said:


> The _sluta _root is recognizable in Dutch: _sluiten_,  'to lock'. We only use it for locking literally, but when we add a  prefix 'be-' it means 'to conclude'.


Swedish also have_ besluta_  meaning to conclude, maybe borrowed from Dutch.

_Innesluta_ - to surround, to embrace
_Omsluta _- to cover, to enclose
These Swedish words with _-sluta _may have the same root as the Dutch _sluiten_.


Gavril said:


> What if you combine _sluta_ with a verb, e.g., _äta frukost_ "to eat breakfast"? Which of the two definitions in the original post would it be closer to?


_Han slutade äta frukost_ - He stopped eating breakfast (never eating breakfast again)
_Han avslutade frukosten med en kopp kaffe _- He finished the breakfast with a cup of coffee


----------



## mataripis

Gavril said:


> I would define the difference between the English verbs _stop_ and _finish_ as follows:
> 
> *finish* is used when an action reaches a defined point of completion: _I finished mowing the lawn_ means that you cut all the grass on your lawn, and there was nothing more left to do.
> 
> *stop *is used when there is a breach or interruption in the course of an action: _I stopped mowing the lawn_ means that the process of mowing the lawn was interrupted because something else caught your attention, because you were tired, or for some other reason, but generally not because you completed the task.
> 
> Which languages regularly make this distinction, and which languages don't?
> 
> Thanks


 Same in Tagalog. Finish-Tapusin/lubusin and Stop- itigil/ihinto' but there is a case that the use of ihinto/itigil is final because of some errors done. If just for a while just add muna/pansamantala , itigil muna/ihinto muna.


----------



## Dymn

In *Catalan*:
- To finish: _acabar de: vaig acabar de tallar la gespa_
- To stop: _deixar de: vaig deixar de tallar la gespa_

In *Spanish*:
- To finish: _terminar de: terminé de cortar el césped_
- To stop: _dejar de_: _dejé de cortar el césped_

The main meaning of both _deixar_ and _dejar _is 'to leave'.


----------



## SuperXW

In Chinese, generally:
When an action reaches a defined point of completion,
Use words with the morpheme 完.
_I finished mowing the lawn. 我割*完*草了。
_
When there is a breach or interruption in the course of an action,
Use words with the morpheme 停.
_I stopped mowing the lawn. 我*停*止了割草。

_There are more specific words to be used in different situations to mean "interrupt", "impede", "pause", "discontinue", "break off" etc.

Another significant difference is that, in English, "stop" can mean: 
1. you no longer do something (e.g. I stopped talking);
2. you prevent something from happening or continuing (e.g. I stopped his talking.)

In Chinese, they are considered two different actions. Different verbs must be used:
1. I stopped talking = 我*停止*讲话。
2. I stopped his talking. = 我*阻止*了他的讲话。


----------



## 810senior

In Japanese:
I *finished *mowing the lawn　私は芝を刈り*終えた*。watashi wa siba wo kari *oeta*
oeta=inf. oeru(to finish, to end) + -ta(past tense)
kari=inf. karu(to mow), kari is a conjugated form for linking with other verbs.
other vocabulary: watashi-wa(I, wa standing for topic marker), siba-wo(acc. lawn)

I *stopped *mowing the lawn　私は芝を刈るのを*やめた*。watashi wa siba wo karu no wo *yameta*
yameta=inf. yameru(to stop) + -ta(past tense)
no wo=acc. thing
literal translation: *I stopped the thing to mow the lawn.*

Of course, these expression can also be adapted to other cases, for example:
I *finished *doing my homework　私は宿題をやり*終えた*。 watashi wa syukudai wo yari *oeta*
I *stopped *doing my homework 私は宿題をやるのを*やめた*。 watashi wa syukudai wo yaru nowo *yameta*


----------



## ThomasK

ThomasK said:


> Interesting distinction you point out, had not thought of it yet. I don't think we can make that distinction when stopping is combined with a verb (we always say 'stoppen met [with] V'). In some other cases it would be _afwerken _(lit. 'work off', where 'af-' suggests the finish, until the very end, the bottom, etc.)... Those are the facts as far as I can see for Dutch.


 I am inclined to think these are two different things - but it remains an interesting question. I keep wondering about this relationship: one seems to be to bring [an action] to a good end, the other means stopping or interrupting it, or indeed, putting an end to it, or inserting a break, "putting a ['temporary'] end to it".  

Some observations: 
- I noticed that Dansk and Norsk use 'fertig', *'ready'*, for example; and indeed, the best way for us in Dutch to translate it is by saying that "we are ready with the mowing of the grass" (we zijn klaar met het maaien van het gras)
- I thought that *'finish' does not require a verb *as such as in "I finished the article" (the action implied may be quite different: writing or adding pictures, or correcting, etc.), but it does suggest an action as such; stopping implies an action as such, as it only describes the end or a break in it, but the action may be rendered by means of a noun (_I stopped the work_)...


----------

