How do you say "no!" (to stop someone)?

Question

Suppose someone is about to do/say something dangerous/inappropriate. And I want to stop them immediately. In English and Spanish I say "no!" to them. It is an order to stop, short form of "don't do it/that". How can I do that in Japanese?

I do not think you can say いいえ in this case.

To stop a child from doing something, some book says to say だめ！. But I find it lacking, meaning "it is wrong/problematic to do that" and leaving the connection to "(so don't do it)" to the listener. I want a short direct, clear, unambiguous order. :-)

とまれ！[止まれ?] sounds to me more related to movement, less general. Also, だめ！ and "no!" are simpler for a child (to understand/process, and for me to think and say).

Would the answer depend on context or listener (adult/toddler/student/teammate)?

Answer 1

When I lived in Japan, I heard parents use some of the following:

Like you suggested, だめ！ was among the first. Sometimes followed by 危ないから！ or 危ないよ！

I also heard やめて！ pretty often.

I guess none of those really carry the "What you are doing is wrong" nuance, but neither does "NO STOP!" in English. If you have to express the idea that a child should not do something, I would suggest それをやってはいけないよ or maybe やっちゃダメだよ or something similar.

Answer 2

there are a lot of situations.

・to stop speak: (to child):

  (to stop loud)静かにしなさい。うるさい。お口はチャック。
  (to stop inappropriate saying)黙りなさい。そんなことを言ってはいけません。
  (both)やめなさい。めっ。こらっ。だめでしょう。しーっ。

(to students):

  (to stop loud)静かにしなさい。私語は慎みなさい。静粛に。    
  (to stop inappropriate saying)黙りなさい。
  (both)口を閉じなさい。

(to friends):

　　　 (to stop loud)静かにして。うるさいよ。黙ろう。

　　　 (to stop inappropriate saying)言いすぎだよ。これ以上はだめ。

　　　 (both)やめろ。しーっ。

(to adults (politeway)):

  (to stop loud)静かにしていただけませんか。静粛にお願いします。私語はお控えください。
  (to stop inappropriate saying)おやめください。冷静になってください。
  (both)---I never heard...---

・to stop dangerous things:

  (to child):危ない！だめっ！やめなさい！こらっ！何やってるの！こっちに来なさい！めっ！
  (to students):危ない！やめなさい！こらっ！何やってるの！
  (to friends):危ない！やめろ！何やってんだ！
  (to adults (polite))おやめください！危険です！何をしていらっしゃるのですか！？

We dont use お黙りください for polite way. because "お黙り" include the strong order. sometimes in the anime/movie, the princess use "お黙りなさい" to lower class person.