Arrêtions

Arrêtions is a conjugated form of the French verb arrêter, meaning to stop or halt. It occurs in two main grammatical contexts where the same spelling appears: the imperfect indicative first-person plural and the present subjunctive first-person plural. In both cases the form is written identically as arrêtions, but the mood and tense determine its meaning.

In the imperfect indicative, nous arrêtions expresses a past, ongoing action: we were stopping or we used to stop. For example: Nous arrêtions la voiture au feu rouge. In the present subjunctive, que nous arrêtions is used after certain verbs and expressions that require the subjunctive mood, often denoting necessity, doubt, desire, or emotion: Il faut que nous arrêtions ce bruit (We must stop this noise).

As a regular -er verb, arrêter follows the standard conjugation pattern. Other related forms include j’arrête (I stop), tu arrêtes, il arrête, nous arrêtons, vous arrêtez, ils arrêtent in the present indicative; and nous arrêtions appears in both imperfect indicative and present subjunctive forms, depending on syntactic context. The pronunciation of arrêtions remains consistent across moods, with the accent on the stem as in arrête.

Usage notes: Because arrêtions can be interpreted as either a past narrative form (imperfect) or a present-subjunctive form (with que), context is essential for interpretation. The form is common in written French, especially in formal or literary contexts where the subjunctive is required.

See also: arrêt, arrêter, arrêtage.