0

明日の朝おそいおきたら、にどねないよ！ Given this phrase in this Context I’m not sure if I talk about myself or if I talk to someone else like I intend to do.

I could add あなたは at the beginning but I know this is impolite unless I use the person’s name to be more accurate.

So without knowing the name of the interlocutor, how people usually deal with it?

Improve this question
4
  • Can you explain what you're trying to say with that Japanese sentence? I'm not sure I understand it.
    – Leebo
    Commented Oct 19, 2023 at 10:08
  • I’m trying to say somebody not to go back to sleep if he woke up late tomorrow morning
    – onizukaek
    Commented Oct 19, 2023 at 10:15
  • If you mean a sort of imperative, don't go back to sleep, then simply you can't use a literal translation of you don't .... You have to use an imperative form like 二度寝してはいけません
    – sundowner
    Commented Oct 19, 2023 at 13:54
  • @sundower thank you I totally forgot it, I wanted to say it more roughly though, actually 二度寝するな is what I wanted to use.
    – onizukaek
    Commented Oct 19, 2023 at 19:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

So did you actually want to say 二度寝するな ("Don't sleep again")? Then an imperative like this is naturally addressed to someone other than the speaker, so you don't need (or can't add) a subject. You don't need a subject even in English.

If you need to explicitly specify the subject, you can use the ～してはいけない ("must not") construction and say something like アリスは二度寝してはいけない ("Alice must not sleep again"). Saying this to someone in front of you can sound like a preach, though.

Improve this answer
2
  • ～してはいけない? Is that often used in conversations with close people? I always think that this form is mostly used for polite forms like on signs: しゃしんを摂ってはいけません. Thanks answer accepted.
    – onizukaek
    Commented Oct 20, 2023 at 8:41
  • 1
    @onizukaek Its colloquial version, しちゃダメ, is common in informal speech and can be used as a milder version of するな.
    – naruto
    Commented Oct 20, 2023 at 10:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .