# Norwegian: å stoppe opp



## timtfj

*Context:* a sentence from this article about theories of why people suffer from stitch while running.
_
Beina er gode og humøret høyt mens du jogger av sted i fin stil. Men plutselig merker du en begynnende smerte i den ene siden. Hold. Du forsøker tappert å løpe videre, men det blir verre og verre, og etter hvert *stopper du opp* med en forpint grimase.


_​*Question:* what is the meaning of _å stoppe opp_? I'm taking it to be something like "slow down and stop" or "come to a halt": the idea of stopping but not immediately. Is that correct?

My version of the final sentence is "You try valiantly to keep running, but it gets worse and worse, and eventually you grind to a halt with an agonised grimace".


Mange takk.


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## NorwegianNYC

Your translation would work


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## timtfj

NorwegianNYC said:


> Your translation would work


How about "you gradually grind to a halt"---the idea that the stopping is spread out over a period of time? Would that also accurately represent _stoppe opp_ too? (It's worse English, but at the moment I can't think of a good way to explicitly put the idea of gradual stopping into English.)


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## NorwegianNYC

They way I read the sentence it does not explicitly say WHEN you come to a halt, so "grind to a halt" might work


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## hanne

I don't agree. At least in Danish "stoppe op" doesn't have anything particularly gradual about it, it might as well happen abruptly, and I'd say it simply means the same as "stoppe". The thing that makes it gradual in the sentence here is the words "etter hvert".


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## timtfj

hanne said:


> I don't agree. At least in Danish "stoppe op" doesn't have anything particularly gradual about it, it might as well happen abruptly, and I'd say it simply means the same as "stoppe". The thing that makes it gradual in the sentence here is the words "etter hvert".


Thanks---I specifically want to know about _stoppe opp_ and whether the _opp_ signifies anything. The nearest example I can think of in English is the difference between _to speed_ (travel very fast) and to _speed up _(get faster). So I was wondering whether _stoppe_ might refer merely to the fact that you're no longer moving and _stoppe opp_ might include the idea of slowing down as well.


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## timtfj

OK, the answer  I got on Twitter was


"_Å stoppe opp_ is to halt. So you stop and think, e.g. before making your next move. Also traffic can _stoppe opp_. Stop completely."​

So _etter hvert *stopper du opp*_ might be translated "eventually you *stop altogether*" or "eventually you *come to a complete stop*".


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## NorwegianNYC

Hei Hanne

No, I disagree. *å stoppe opp* does not necessarily mean to come to a sudden stop. I can might as well mean a gradual cease of something. In a sentence like "statsfinansene ble vanskelige etter hvert som skatteinngangen stoppet opp", it does not indicate a sudden cease in revenue. In Norwegian, at least colloquial Norwegian, there is little difference between *slutte* and *​stoppe.*


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## timtfj

From all this:



hanne said:


> At least in Danish "stoppe op" doesn't have anything particularly gradual about it, it might as well happen abruptly . . .





timtfj said:


> OK, the answer  I got on Twitter was
> "_Å stoppe opp_ is to halt. So you stop and think, e.g. before making your next move. Also traffic can _stoppe opp_. Stop completely."​


​


NorwegianNYC said:


> *å stoppe opp* does not necessarily mean to come to a sudden stop . . . there is little difference between *slutte* and *​stoppe.*



the picture I get is:


*å stoppe*, like *å slutte*, merely says that something ceases happening
*å stoppe opp* is more emphatic, saying that the activity ceases altogether
neither *å stoppe* nor *å stoppe opp* says anything about how long it takes for the activity to end.

Have I understood correctly? It seems to me that the difference between *stoppe* and *stoppe opp* is probably one of tone rather than of literal meaning.


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## NorwegianNYC

I'd say so - yes


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## hanne

hanne said:
			
		

> "stoppe op" doesn't have anything particularly gradual about it, it might as well happen abruptly, and I'd say it simply means the same as "stoppe".





NorwegianNYC said:


> No, I disagree. *å stoppe opp* does not necessarily mean to come to a sudden stop. I can might as well mean a gradual cease of something. [...] In Norwegian, at least colloquial Norwegian, there is little difference between *slutte* and *​stoppe.*



It sounds to me like there's nothing to disagree about, and we're saying quite the same thing .


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## Ben Jamin

"Å stoppe opp" in Norwegian is related to "stoppe" the same way as "open up" is related to "open" in English. No English native speaker was able to explain the difference, but the Norwegian form is most likely a calque of the English one. Adding an "up" or "opp" is just one of those illogical processes that happen in a language.


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## timtfj

NorwegianNYC said:


> I'd say so - yes


 Takk for det. (Og jeg er enig at dere ser ut til å være enige.)


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## timtfj

Ben Jamin said:


> "Å stoppe opp" in Norwegian is related to "stoppe" the same way as "open up" is related to "open" in English. No English native speaker was able to explain the difference, but the Norwegian form is most likely a calque of the English one. Adding an "up" or "opp" is just one of those illogical processes that happen in a language.



I wondered about relating it to English _close_ and _close down_. A shop that closes at 5 pm will open again tomorrow, but one which closes down today won't be opening again. The _down_ makes it more complete.

Returning to the original example of a runner having to stop because of having a stitch:


1. _etter hvert stopper du opp med en forpint grimase_, or
2. _etter hvert stopper du med en forpint grimase_​

Would the difference between these be something like this? In 1 it's clear that once you've _stoppet opp_, you remain stopped while you wait for the stitch to go away: you've very definitely stopped. Whereas in 2, you can resume again straight away if you want?

(I'd try clarifying _open_ versus _open up_, but that would be off topic.)


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