sostare

Sostare is an Italian verb meaning to stop, halt, or linger in a place for a short time. It can apply to people or vehicles and is commonly used in formal, literary, or administrative contexts as well as on traffic signs. The action is usually intransitive and often followed by a prepositional phrase indicating location, for example sostare in una piazzola or sostare davanti a un ingresso. Sostare generally conveys a temporary pause rather than long-term parking; for longer-term parking, Italian typically uses parcheggiare or posteggiare.

The noun sosta (stop, halt, pause) is derived from sostare and is widely used in everyday language and signage, as in vietato sostare (no stopping). The term is part of standard Italian vocabulary and appears in official regulations, road signs, and literature.

Conjugation: sostare is a regular first-conjugation verb (ending -are). It follows the standard endings of -are verbs in all tenses; the past participle is sostato, used with the auxiliary avere in compound tenses. For precise conjugation, consult a verb table or dictionary.

See also: Sosta; Fermata; Fermare; Parcheggiare; Segnaletica stradale.