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anhalten

to stop, to come to a halt

verb AN-hal-ten Rare

Also means

to persist, to continue (ongoing action)

Usage Note

anhalten as a movement verb means to bring a vehicle or person to a stop. The contrasting sense — der Regen hält an ('the rain persists') — is equally common, so learners should distinguish the two by subject and context.

Examples

"Der Bus hielt kurz vor der Haltestelle an."

Natural Translation

The bus stopped just before the stop.

Literal Translation

The bus held short before the stop.

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