Minna no Nihongo 17 ① | The Imperative Form “Don’t do” in Japanese

こんにちは、みなさん おじゃちゃんです。Today’s lesson is; Minna no Nihongo 17 ① | The Imperative Form “Don’t do” in Japanese.
Can you say “Don’t touch this!” in Japanese? You can learn the imperative mood with the negative form in Japanese here!

Let’s get started!

1. Conjugating Verbs

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Let’s learn how to conjugate verbs a little before you learn the imperative mood.
We are going to use nai-form in this lesson.

Do you remember?

You can learn the detail lesson in “The Verb Conjugation Group 1”!

Japanese Lesson 16: Verb Conjugation of Group 1

You always need to think from jisho-form when you conjugate verbs.

■ How to conjugate nai-form?

The conjugation sounds of nai-form is different depending on the Verb Groups.

・The Verb conjugation | Group Ⅰ

We conjugate jisho-form to nai-form by replacing “u sounds” with “a sounds”.
It changes the sounds depending on the rows of consonants.

English	jisho-form	nai-form
to write	書く kaku	書かない kakanai
to speak	話す hanasu	話さない hanasanai
to wait	待つ matsu	待たない matanai
to die	死ぬ shinu	死なない shinanai
to line up	並ぶ narabu	並ばない narabanai
to read	読む yomu	読まない yomanai
to know	知る shiru	知らない shiranai
to say	言う iu	言わない iwanai

・The Verb conjugation | Group Ⅱ

We conjugate Group Ⅱ verbs with “i sounds” or “e sounds”. These verbs don’t change at all. It’s very easy, right? You just add “ない”  instead of the suffix.

・i-sounds column

English	jisho-form	nai-form
to exist	いる iru	いない inai
to get up	起きる okiru	起きない okinai
to pass	過ぎる sugiru	過ぎない suginai
to see	見る miru	見ない minai
to borrow	借りる kariru	借りない karinai

📖 The difference between 見ない and 見てない
見ない is 見る’s nai-form. 見てない means “I haven’t seen (yet).” Originally, 見てない is 見ていない. We usually omit “い” of 見ていない when we have a conversation. So 見ない and 見て(い)ない are a little different.

・e-sounds column

English	jisho-form	nai-form
to answer	答える kotaeru	答えない kotaenai
to take	受ける ukeru	受けない ukenai
to fit	合わせる awaseru	合わせない awasenai
to throw away	捨てる suteru	捨てない sutenai
to ask	尋ねる tazuneru	尋ねない tazunenai
to eat	食べる taberu	食べない tabenai
to stop	止める tomeru	止めない tomenai
to put in	入れる ireru	入れない irenai
to get off	降りる oriru	降りない orinai

・The Verb conjugation | Group Ⅲ

You just memorize Group Ⅲ verbs because there are only 2 verbs, “来る” and “する”. These verbs are exceptions.

English	jisho-form	nai-form
to come	来る kuru	来ない konai
to do	する suru	しない shinai

⚠️ CAUTION
Japanese people usually use kanji. You can see the different pronunciations of “来る kuru” and “来ない konai” even though it is used same kanji.  Let’s use verbs and get used to the pronunciations little by little.

2. The Imperative Form in Japanese

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■ The Imperative Form | Don’t do ~.

Let’s learn the imperative form. You can tell the differences of various nuances by using forms properly. Learn how to use the forms with Japanese expressions commonly used here.

・Don’t do ~! ～ ないで

Let’s learn the imperative form “Don’t do ~.” here.
Don’t do ~ !” is “～ないで。” in Japanese.
This expression sounds like a commanding tone so you need to be careful when you use this form.

Japanese	English
触らないで。 sawaranaide	Don’t touch!
飲まないで。 nomanaide	Don’t drink!
撮らないで。 toranaide	Don’t take pictures!
しないで。 shinaide	Don’t do!
行かないで。 ikanaide	Don’t go!

・Don’t do ~, please. ～ないでね。

“～ないでね” means Don’t do ~, please.”.
You can give a casual and kind tone when you add “ね” to the imperative form. You can also use this form to younger people, your family members and children etc.

Japanese	English
心配しないでね。 shinpaishinaidene	Don’t be worried, please.
忘れないでね。 wasurenaidene	Don’t forget, please.
入らないでね。 hairanaidene	Don’t enter, please.
食べないでね。 tabenaidene	Don’t eat, please.
遅れないでね。 okurenaidene	Don’t be late, please.

・Do NOT do ~! ～ないでよ！

“～ないでよ” means “Do NOT do ~!”. 
You can give an emphatic and unpleasant tone when you add “よ” to the imperative form. Especially, this form is feminine.

Japanese	English
押さないでよ！ osanaideyo	Do NOT push me (it)!
笑わないでよ！ warawanaideyo	Do NOT laugh at me!
来ないでよ！ konaideyo	Do NOT come!
見ないでよ！ minaideyo	Do NOT look!
言わないでよ！ iwanaideyo	Do NOT tell!

・DON’T do ~. ～ jisho-form + な！

“isho-form + な!” means “DON’T do ~.”.  “な” means “not”.
You can give a very commanding and dangerous tone when you use this form. Especially, this form is masculine.

Japanese	English
動くな！ ugokuna	DON’T move!
しゃべるな！ shaberuna	DON’T talk!
寝るな！ neruna	DON’T sleep!
走るな！ hashiruna	DON’T run!
壊すな！ kowasuna	DON’T break it!

・Please don’t do ~. ～ないでください。

“～ないでください” means “Please don’t do ~”.
You can give a polite and formal tone when you add “ください” to the imperative form. You can also use this form to superior people, elder people, and customers etc. Nevertheless, this form is the imperative form so treat it carefully.

Japanese	English
開けないでください。 akenaidekudasai	Please don’t open.
閉めないでください。 shimenaidekudasai	Please don’t close.
座らないでください。 suwaranaidekudasai	Please don’t sit.
置かないでください。 okanaidekudasai	Please don’t leave your things!
捨てないでください。sutenaidekudasai	Please don’t throw sit away.

You can learn more how to say prohibitions here!🐶

Minna no Nihongo 15 ① : Permissions And Prohibitions

The Imperative Form | Exercise

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Homework

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Translate English into Japanese and comment below.

① Don’t cry.
💡Hint To cry is 泣くnaku.

② Please don’t turn off the light.
💡Hint To turn off is 消す kesu.

Okay, that’s all for today!

Good luck with your Japanese study.

THE NEXT LESSON is:
Minna no Nihongo 17 ② | Obligation and Permission “Must do” in Japanese

THE PREVIOUS LESSON is: 
Minna no Nihongo 16 ② : Combining Sentences Using Adjectives