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So でねえ is used in the following sentences in Great Pretender [S01E01] as a negative command and has been translated as such:

来るでねえ !

Dont come [closer] !

And here as:

ふざけるでねえ！

Stop messing around

  1. What is it a contraction of ?
  2. What is the formality level in comparison to Verb+な and verb-ないでください ?
  3. What nuances does it carry ?
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This ～でねえ is a contraction of ～でない, which is an old-fashioned negative imperative expression. ない changed to ねえ (/ai/-to-/ee/ contraction).

Both ～でない and ～でねえ are used as part of stereotypical old-fashioned speech, but their typical users are quite different. ～でない is used by pompous aristocrats and royalty, whereas ～でねえ is dialectal and mostly used by rural farmers.

Basically, it's slightly less forcible than 来るな, but it's much stronger than 来ないで.

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  • By 来ないで do you mean 来ないでください ? Or is ないで an alternative negative imperative ?
    – Japanese Learner
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 12:53
  • @JapaneseLearner I mean 来ないで as a casual negative request, i.e., "(Please) don't come". 来ないでください is a polite request which is too different from the others.
    – naruto
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 12:54

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