Pestávají

Pestávají is the Czech verb form that means they stop or cease doing something. It is the third person plural present tense of the verb přestávat, which denotes an ongoing or repeated cessation of an action. In standard Czech orthography the form is written as přestávají, with the letter ř. The spelling pestávají without diacritics or with a missing háček is considered nonstandard or a typographical variant.

The verb přestávat is imperfective, describing a process or repetition rather than a completed action. It is commonly used with an infinitive to indicate that people are stopping a particular activity, often over a period of time or as a recurring habit. Typical constructions include přestávají kouřit (they stop smoking), přestávají pracovat (they stop working), or přestávají mluvit (they stop talking).

Usage notes:

- Přestávat can express temporary or habitual cessation, unlike the perfective přestat, which emphasizes a completed stoppage.

- It is frequently used with infinitives or with phrases like “s něčím” to indicate ceasing an activity entirely or for a while.

- The standard inflected forms align with other verbs of the same conjugation pattern.

See also: přestat, přestávat, stop a similar Czech verbs for expressing cessation of activity.