| The prohibitive form is used to forbid someone of doing something
or to strongly urge someone to refrain from doing something.
"Don't"
The rentaikei + な (na) construction is used to create strong prohibitives.
| |
飲むな。(Nomu na.)
Don't drink!
乗るな。 (Noru na.)
Don't drive!
渡るな。 (Wataru na.)
Don't cross (the road)! |
| |
NOTE: This form can be made more
polite by using honorific verbs instead of the regular verbs. The
ます (masu) form can also be used, but is not as common.
NOTE: Be careful not to confuse "rentaikei
+ な" with "ren'youkei + な".
| |
飲むな。(Nomu na.)
Don't drink!
飲みな。 (Nomi na.)
Drink! |
| |
"You mustn't"
There are several ways to describe that you "cannot" or
"must not" do something. This construction uses the conditional
form followed by the negative of "to become" or "to
be able to go".
| 行くとならない。 |
(Iku to naranai.) |
行くといけない。 |
(Iku to ikenai.) |
| 行ってはならない。 |
(Itte wa naranai.) |
行ってはいけない。 |
(Itte wa ikenai.) |
| 行けばならない。 |
(Ikeba naranai.) |
行けばいけない。 |
(Ikeba ikenai.) |
| |
All these variations translate as "You cannot go." or
"You mustn't go." Of course all variations can be made
polite by adding ます (masu) to the ren'youkei conjugation of the
final (main) verb.
"Please, don't"
This construction is achieved by adding ないでください。 (nai de kudasai)
to the mizenkei conjugation.
| |
それをしないでください。(Sore wo shinai de
kudasai.)
Please don't do that.
鉛筆で書かないでください。 (Enpitsu de kakanai
de kudasai.)
Please don't write with a pencil. |
| |
Related pages:
Rentaikei
+ と (to)
Rentaikei
+ な (na)
Ren'youkei
+ て (te)
Ren'youkei
+ な (na)
Izenkei
+ ば (ba)
Mizenkei
+ ない (nai)
Imperative
forms
Making
requests
Negative
forms
The particle "な"
(na) |
