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In an episode on Crayon Shin-Chan, Shin-Chan says

開けて！

In this situation, he was knocking the door (For the second time he was knocking. His mom has already told him that he should properly say "I'm home", as he didn't use the proper greeting. Shin-Chan replied that "You should not take a child's words too seriously".)

Shin-Chan's mom replies from inside the house

開けません！

She was angry on him for returning home late.

Jisho says there is this verb 開ける, which may mean

to open (a door, etc.)

But why Shin-Chan uses the te-form of the verb? He could at most use the imperative form of the verb, which is 開けろ.

Another question, why Shin-Chan's mom uses the polite masu-form of the verb with her kid, while Shin-Chan didn't use it with her mom?

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Technically speaking, 「開{あ}けて！」 in this context/situation is not in the te-form.

Rather, the 「て」 here is a sentence-ending particle that is used to form a request or a light kind of imperative. This usage of 「て」 is extremely common in informal Japanese.

Thus, 「開けて！」 means the same thing as 「開けてください。」 or 「開けてくれ。」, meaning "(Please) open (the door)!". Shin-chan is not using the te-form even though it is physically the same as the te-form. The grammar and meaning/usage is completely different from the te-form.

Another question, why Shin-Chan's mom uses the polite masu-form of the verb with her kid, while Shin-Chan didn't use it with her mom?

It is not uncommon for Japanese moms to use the masu-form with their kids and husbands. This may sound weird to you, but not to us native speakers.

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  • Wiktionary page for する has this sentence: 　一人にしないで . So is this sentence also a request of the type you mentioned? Then, is しないで the negative te-form of する ? But doesn't する have the negative te-form しなくて instead ?
    – Tony Marshle
    Dec 2, 2017 at 18:46
  • The negative te form of a verb like しなくて does not have the meaning of making a request. All other verbs are the same. You have 来ないで、食べないで、走らないで, etc. While なくて a lot of times is used more like an adverb or it has something after it. E.g. 来なくていい means "you don't have to come", then also 何も食べなくて学校までに来た "I came to school without eating anything". Though ないで which also has this meaning is more common to use.
    – Fireheart251
    Dec 4, 2017 at 1:07

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