deja de hablar
/dexa de ablaɾ/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "stop talking" is translated as deja de hablar.
The phrase is a command used to tell someone to be quiet or to end their speech. The construction dejar de followed by an infinitive is the standard way in Spanish to express the cessation of an action.
Which one should you use?
While deja de hablar means to cease the act of speaking, cállate is a more direct and often more aggressive way to say "shut up".
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Spain, people might use estate callado/a to say "be quiet". In Latin America, some individuals might use the colloquialism cierra el pico, which literally means "shut your beak".
How does it change in a sentence?
The form deja de hablar uses the informal "tú" imperative. If addressing someone formally, you would use deje de hablar. To tell a group of people to stop talking, use the plural imperative dejen de hablar.
How do you pronounce it?
/dexa de ablaɾ/
Did you know?
- In some historical Spanish texts, you would see the verb written as fablar instead of hablar, which makes the connection to the English word 'fable' much more obvious.
- The verb hablar is a distant linguistic relative of the English word 'fable', as both trace back to the Latin concept of storytelling and conversation.
Examples in context
- Por favor, deja de hablar.Please stop talking.This sentence shows how to use deja de hablar with a polite request.Tatoeba #6712737 by arh, translation #1911970 by Spamster
- ¡Deja de hablar y empieza a trabajar!Stop talking and start working!This sentence demonstrates how to use deja de hablar as a command alongside another instruction.Tatoeba #2129621 by Shishir, translation #5223824 by Cainntear
- Deja de hablar así.Stop talking like that.This sentence shows how to use deja de hablar to specify a manner of speaking.Tatoeba #10363296 by DJ_Saidez, translation #3181216 by CK
- Por favor, cállateStop talking
- 8 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
A quiet library where Mateo is trying to study.
- MateoLucía, por favor, deja de hablar.Lucía, please, stop talking.
- LucíaLo siento, no me di cuenta.I'm sorry, I didn't realize.
- MateoEs que necesito concentrarme.It's just that I need to concentrate.
- LucíaEstá bien, me quedo callada.Alright, I will be quiet.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, deja, hablar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
