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I found that in a website 〜やんな is a colloquial form of 〜やるな meaning 'Don't do...'

However, I have seen the word in a manga with the following sentence.

A: おい あかりを消してやんな。新入りさんがまぶしくてねむれんといかん。

B: じゃあ 消すぜ

While B speaking, he also turning off the light. So, is the word can be both positive and negative?

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3 Answers 3

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The particle な indeed has both meanings: "Don't do ~" and "Do ~". From デジタル大辞泉:

  • 1 動詞・動詞型助動詞の終止形、ラ変型活用語の連体形に付く。禁止の意を表す。「油断する―」「まだ帰る―」「かの尼君などの聞かむに、おどろおどろしく言ふ―」〈源・夕顔〉
  • 2 《補助動詞「なさる」の命令形「なさい」の省略形》動詞・動詞型助動詞の連用形に付く。命令の意を表す。「早く行き―」「好きなようにやり―」

To distinguish, な means "Don't" when it follows the dictionary-form, and "Do" when it follows the masu-stem.

  • するな。 = Don't do it.
    しな。 = しなさい。 = Do it.
  • 歩くな。 = Don't walk.
    歩きな。 = 歩きなさい。 = Walk.
  • 食べるな。 = Don't eat.
    食べな。 = 食べなさい。 = Eat.

Using な in positive instead of negative imperative (e.g. 行きな)


Confusingly, やんな can work as the colloquial form of either やりな or やるな. (やり is the masu-form of やる, which is the subsidiary verb meaning "(do something) for someone" or "Dare do something"). So 消してやんな can both either "Turn it off (for someone)" or "Don't turn it off".

But these can be distinguished by their accents:

  • 消して[やるな]{LHL} ≒ 消して[やんな]{LHL} ≒ Don't turn it off!
  • 消して[やりな]{LHH} ≒ 消して[やんな]{LHH} ≒ Turn it off!

Similar examples:

  • [かえるな]{HLLL} ≒ [かえんな]{HLLL} ≒ Don't go back/home! (ie, Stay!)
  • [かえりな]{LHHH} ≒ [かえんな]{LHHH} ≒ Go back/home!
  • [しゃべるな]{LLHLL} ≒ [しゃべんな]{LLHLL} ≒ Shut up!
  • [しゃべりな]{LLHHH} ≒ [しゃべんな]{LLHHH} ≒ Say something!

This type of ambiguous colloquial form is found in all ラ行 consonant-stem verbs (走る, 座る, 頑張る, ...).

EDIT: To make sure, 消してやんな in 「あかりを消してやんな。新入りさんがまぶしくてねむれんといかん。」 is 消してやりな. If it were something like 「あかりを消してやんな。新入りさんはまだ勉強がしたいんだ。」 then it would mean 消してやるな. It's purely context-dependent, and I can't tell which is generally more common even after googling 座んな, 走んな, 帰んな, 乗んな, etc.

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  • I think you typo’d the accent for the first 消してやんな, the accent should be on the や not ん Apr 9, 2022 at 15:56
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This してやんな is a euphonic change of してやりな. Verb + してやる means "do something for somebody" so 明かりを消してやんな is translated as "Turn off the light (for the freshman)."

In addition, this word also can indicate negative imperative as you noticed.

They can be distinguished by their accents and contexts.

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I think that in this case 消してやんな is a version of the Tokyo-ben「やりな
  It would be meant as, "*Turn off the lights for them." (light command)

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  • 1
    やらなかん <- Do you mean 「やらなかん」? In that case, we'd say [消してやらな]{HHHHHL} or [消したらな]{HHHHL}, not [消してやんな]{LHHHHH}
    – chocolate
    Aug 5, 2016 at 9:15
  • 「~してやんな」は軽い命令形のひとつ。よく使われますよ。
    – sazarando
    Aug 5, 2016 at 20:40
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    Hmm?? I think you're misreading my comment. I said (1) You wrote Kansai-ben「やらなかん」 but I think it's a typo or error for やらなかん, and (2) I know してやんな is common, and it's a contracted form of してやな(さい) , not してやな(あかん). So I am saying that your line (消して)やんな is a version of the Kansai-ben「やらな(あ)かん」 is incorrect. I said 消してやらな and 消したらな are short for やらなあかん, and やらなあかん doesn't get shortened to けしてやんな.
    – chocolate
    Aug 5, 2016 at 21:55
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    I am sorry if I sounded persistent but... 消してやんな and やりな are not Kansai-ben but Tokyo-ben. [消してやりなさい]{LHHHHHHL} -> [消してやりな]{LHHHHHH} -> [消してやんな]{LHHHHH} <- This is Tokyo-ben. (Compare: [消してやらなあかん]{HHHHHLLLL} -> [消してやらな]{HHHHHL} -> [消したらな]{HHHHL} ← This is Kansai-ben)
    – chocolate
    Aug 8, 2016 at 0:31
  • Very interesting. 私、結構勘違いしていたから正してくださってありがとうございます!
    – sazarando
    Aug 8, 2016 at 1:32

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