# Stop (doing something)!



## andone

Hello guys,
I've learned how to say "to stop" in Arabic in a couple different ways and I would like to clarify something.
The first one I learned is "Tawaquf" but I was told that the way you say is different when you say it to a guy vs a girl vs a group of people.
Another one I learned is "bass"
For this, I was told you can use it regardless of gender and group.
What I am wondering is that if "bass" means the same with "tawaquf" and can you use it in a situation where someone is trying to touch something he or she shouldn't?
I would really appreciate for any help!
Thank you!!


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## Finland

Hello!

"Bass" might work pretty well in many Arabic dialects. It means "enough". 

HTH
S


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## bamia

You could also use _khalas_! Or _kafi!

_


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## Hemza

This may help:

All dialects: That's enough


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## cherine

andone said:


> Hello guys,
> I've learned how to say "to stop" in Arabic in a couple different ways and I would like to clarify something.
> The first one I learned is "Tawaquf" but I was told that the way you say is different when you say it to a guy vs a girl vs a group of people.
> Another one I learned is "bass"
> For this, I was told you can use it regardless of gender and group.
> What I am wondering is that if "bass" means the same with "tawaquf" and can you use it in a situation where someone is trying to touch something he or she shouldn't?
> I would really appreciate for any help!
> Thank you!!


Welcome to the forum, andone 

Could you please give us the context where you want to use this word? It's very important if you want to get accurate answers. Also please know that some words can be used in dialects (like bass بس) but not in Standard Arabic (fuS7a).

If you want to tell someone not to touch something, you wouldn't ask them to stop, but to not touch, so this too needs to be clarified.


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## andone

Hello again!

Thank you so much for all the help!
I think it will be better if I am a bit more specific!
I am actually working for an animation studio.
We produce a kids show and part of it is about introducing an expression of a language.
We are making an episode about Egypt and about a girl who loves the history of Egypt.
So the girl gives tour at an ancient Egyptian museum.
While she gives the tour, her little brother tries to touch an antiquity in which situation she says “stop!”. After she tell him to stop, she explains the tour group that this is how you say “to stop” in Arabic. Also, in the later stage, some of the creatures in the museum come alive and try to catch them in which her brother also tells them to stop. So there are the two main situations in which the expression is used. We were going go with “Tawaquf” but figured that this is a bit difficult to use since the way it is used is different based on male and female or a group of both sexes (I was told that it is also different when you are using it to animals). So we thought it would be better to use another expression that contains the same meaning and can be used without such limitation Which was the reason why I was wondering if “bass” would work! So if you guys could give me some more information on this, that would be awesome!!

Thank you!!!


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## Ihsiin

In this context _bas_ is not correct, and given the show you’re producing I would avoid vernacular Arabic. If it were me I would go with _qif_.


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## elroy

I’m afraid I disagree with you, Ihsiin. قِفْ doesn’t work as it means “stop” as in “stop moving”; I would use كَفَى in MSA, which conveniently works for any gender or number.  As for colloquial, at least in Palestinian Arabic بَسْ (or خَلَصْ) would work perfectly here.  Both of these also work for any gender or number.


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## Sun-Shine

I'd say "توقف" or better" لا تلمسه" .


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## al-sirbi

What about (Haazhi / 7aaji) حاجي ? Used only in Levantine Arabic?


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## Ihsiin

elroy said:


> I’m afraid I disagree with you, Ihsiin. قِفْ doesn’t work as it means “stop” as in “stop moving”; I would use كَفَى in MSA, which conveniently works for any gender or number.  As for colloquial, at least in Palestinian Arabic بَسْ (or خَلَصْ) would work perfectly here.  Both of these also work for any gender or number.



Indeed, it does mean 'stop' as in 'stop moving', but words like بس and كافي imply that the boy should stop doing something that he's already doing, and it seems in this context the boy hasn't done the thing he shouldn't be doing (which is touching the thing), but is moving towards it. This is why I suggested قف, though if course if in reality I were there to the tell the boy off I'd probably say عيفه or something like that.


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## Aliph

Hi everybody! I find your answers interesting, but shouldn’t you transliterate them? Probably Andone isn’t learning Arabic. He produces a show for children in Korean, one episode is about Egypt and he would like to spice it up with some Egyptian.


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## andone

Hello everyone!!
Thank you so much for all the help!
I truly appreciate all your kindness!!
But as Aliph has mentioned, would it be possible to have them written in English and teach me how to properly pronounce them?
Thank you so much once again for all your help!!!


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## Abu Talha

How about also كُفّ [عن هذا]!
English transliteration: _kuffa [3an haadhaa]_!
("3" is the sound for Arabic letter "ayn" ع)


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## Sun-Shine

"كُفّ" / "كفى" as Ihsiin said: 





> imply that the boy should stop doing something that he's already doing





al-sirbi said:


> What about (Haazhi / 7aaji) حاجي ? Used only in Levantine Arabic?


I think it's similar to كفى / كُفّ



andone said:


> We were going go with “Tawaquf” but figured that this is a bit difficult to use since the way it is used is different based on male and female or a group of both sexes (I was told that it is also different when you are using it to animals). So we thought it would be better to use another expression that contains the same meaning and can be used without such limitation Which was the reason why I was wondering if “bass” would work! So if you guys could give me some more information on this, that would be awesome!!


I still think that "tawaqqaf" is the most appropriate or "la talmaSH" (don't touch it).


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## bamia

Given that your target audience isn't Arab, no one is going to expect you to use Modern Standard Arabic. I'd suggest going with Egyptian dialect rather than MSA since the show takes place in an Egyptian setting. It's more authentic.


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## cherine

I read all the posts again, wondering why it's so hard to come up with an equivalent of such a simple word. And I think the problem is that "stop" is not the right word here. Like I said before:


cherine said:


> If you want to tell someone not to touch something, you wouldn't ask them to stop, but to not touch


And there's also what Ihsiin said (and I'll add the transliteration in red):


Ihsiin said:


> Indeed, it does mean 'stop' as in 'stop moving', but words like بس bass and كافي kaafi imply that the boy should stop doing something that he's already doing, and it seems in this context the boy hasn't done the thing he shouldn't be doing


So, maybe we're looking for the wrong word in the first place.

At the risk of not being as helpful as I'd love to be, could you give us the Korean word you'd use in those two situations? I don't know much Korean, but maybe going from the right language/word we can reach a more accurate Arabic equivalent.


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## Aliph

Sorry I’ll add my five cents, based on my experience with children. If the story in the film is about a family visiting Egypt and a museum with kids, the parents surely admonished the kids not to touch anything before they even entered the building. I do not know what Egyptian parents would tell the kids exactly but surely a short, sharp word, either “don’t touch” (in a preventive way) or “stop” or “stop it” if the kid already started misbehaving or simply got near a precious item. I definitely would go for Egyptian dialect, in order to be more authentic.


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## cherine

That would be correct if the movie was about an Egyptian family (and intended for Egyptian viewers). If the target audience is pan Arab, then fuS7a (Standard Arabic) is the better choice (and is what most movie companies, including Disney, do these days). But I don't think this is the case, so let's wait for more clarifications.


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## andone

Hello again everyone!
And thank you so much for all the help once again!
The way I would say “to stop” in my language, Korean, is “meomchwo (멈춰)”. The show will actually be aired in many different countries so it is not only specifically for Egyptian viewers. But this episode is about a girl from Egypt introducing the culture of Egypt by sharing its history and teaching a local expression (how to say “to stop” in Arabic). Would it be wrong and sounds very awkward if you said “o2af” to a group of creatures that you are not necessarily sure if they are male of female?


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## cherine

Thank you, Andone 

Frankly, I was expecting 그만두다  But wouldn't 멈춰 be more like "don't move" rather than "stop"? At least this is equivalent I feels suits the context better and would sound more natural. If you agree on this, I suggest this translation (Standard Arabic, as we agreed -I think- it's more universal so better be used here):
لا تتحرك la tataHarrak. (there would be a problem for the actress pronouncing this H as it's not the English sound h, but an Arabic ح, but h is the closest thing to)

The plural, addressing a group, is لا تتحركوا la tataHarraku.

If you prefer the colloquial Egyptian, it's ما تتحركش matetHarraksh to the singular masculine, and ما تتحركوش matetHarrakuush to the plural.


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## andone

Hello guys!
It's a bit late but thank you so much for all the help once again!
We ended up keeping the original one and edit some scenes instead of changing it to another word due to some complex issues we had.
But it was still great to communicate with you guys and I am glad that I learned at least a little bit about the language.
I hope you guys could help me out again in the future if I had some other questions!
Thank you!!!!!


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