16
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The meaning of ~がいい
No, 見る and 諦めた方 are grammatically subjects, not adverbs in those sentences. Words marked with が should be nouns, of course.
As you know, noun + がいい (lit. "~ is good", with exhaustive-listing ga) is ...
10
votes
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何も言うでない ! meaning and origin
Yes, ~するでない is an old-fashioned and pompous way of saying "Don't do ~!".
In modern Japanese, this is a kind of 役割語 (stereotyped role words) which is typically used by nobles and/or old ...
10
votes
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Usage and meaning : 寝ろ vs 寝てろ?
This type of いる is called a subsidiary verb, and what it means roughly depends on the context and the verb type. For details, see: When is Vている the continuation of action and when is it the ...
9
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しろ vs. せよ imperative forms
せよ is the imperative form of the verb す, which is an archaic verb meaning する in modern Japanese. This archaic imperative is still found in modern Japanese, typically in examinations at high school and ...
8
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Is な used for emphasis or negative imperative in this sentence?
「おまえ、そんな体験したこともねぇのにわかったようなこと言うなっ」
How can I know?
When it's spoken, you could easily tell the difference by the pitch accent:
わかったようなこと[言うな]{LHL} ← negative imperative
わかったようなこと[言うな]{LHH} ← mild ...
8
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Could not understand why 命令形 (imperative form) is used in this sentence from 1Q84 book
Have you heard that there are two types of causative form (long and shortened) in Japanese? What you are seeing is the 連用形 (aka masu-stem/pre-masu-form) of ずらせる/ぬがせる (ichidan), not ずらす/ぬがす (godan). ...
7
votes
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When to use these plain Te-Forms?
Let's talk about the imperative in Japanese: an imperative is a way to give orders and/or commands. However, the form of these utterances decides whether they are humble requests to barked orders.
...
7
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Is くれ the short form for くれる?
What do you mean by short form? Usually that's another name for 辞書形{じしょけい} or the 'dictionary form', which くれる already is in itself. It's not an abbreviation, either; rather くれ is the irregular 命令形{...
6
votes
Which conjugation is this 進む → 進め
This is the [命令形]{めい・れい・けい} - imperative form. It translates more like
O dream boat, go/move on to the shore of tomorrow
Which is almost what you have. The difference is that the singer is ...
6
votes
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What does 楽しめよ really mean?
Seems to be the imperative-form verb 楽{たの}しめ together with the particle よ.
楽しめ
楽{たの}しむ is the original verb, which means "to enjoy oneself". 楽{たの}しめ, the imperative form, is formed by ...
6
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What does よ bring in 「〜ないでよね」?
It's basically the same as (imperative +) よ, i.e. request when the listener doesn't seem to share the same recognition as the speaker when you doubt that the opponent does it.
In falling tone*1, it ...
5
votes
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Positive Imperatives When Telling Someone Not to Do Something
This was discussed some here in a question about うそおっしゃい. A similar construction happens in English, as in the famous Dirty Harry line, "Go ahead, make my day." The speaker is telling the listener ...
5
votes
How is な used here?
I think the な is the negative imperative meaning don't do. So, the speaker is telling 鈴木 to not ask his son. The second sentence shows the speaker's reasoning with the explanatory のだ: because there's ...
5
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What's difference between うるさくないでください and うるさくしないでください
うるさくしないでください is the only correct choice. うるさくないでください is just plain ungrammatical because it lacks a verb.
~ないでください ("Please don't ~") of course needs a verb before it, and in this case, the verb is ...
5
votes
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でねえ in anime - Negative Imperative?
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).
何も言うでない ! meaning and origin
What is じゃねぇか? What is its ...
5
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Difference between two grammars, ろ and るんだ?
It is almost same and both can be commands, but やめるんだ is a little bit softer than やめろ.
In the first place, we don’t use やめるんだ as "stop it!" in verbal communication. It is almost only used ...
4
votes
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Imperative form is rude...?
Japanese uses honorifics that English doesn't. For example, there are different suffixes, particles, endings that you should use when you say to your friends (or juniors), seniors and very high ...
4
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Meaning of 〜たつもりでも〜ても~。
You can see it as two sentences: "優しく言ったつもりでも「~しなさい」と聞こえ(る)" and "「~しなさい」と言っても優しさが伝わる。"
「優しく言ったつもりでも」
--> Even though you meant to say (or ask) something gently/mildly,
「『~しなさい』と聞こえ、」
--> it can ...
4
votes
Using な in positive instead of negative imperative (e.g. 行きな)
“な” (and its variation “なよ”) is a suffix to the verb used in imperative form. It's a colloquial version of "...しなさい."
It has a bit of patronizing tone, but sounds much softer, familiar, and amicable ...
4
votes
Usage and meaning : 寝ろ vs 寝てろ?
All in all, 寝ていろ is something like a command to sleep (or be in state of sleep or keep sleeping ?).
Correct. The difference in nuance from 寝ろ is "keep sleeping." It implies that she should keep ...
4
votes
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Obscure verb forms?
Question 1
~ますまい is grammatical, but it's already fairly uncommon. It's mainly heard in role languages for stereotypical samurai and pompous/noble elderly people.
~ですまい is ungrammatical, although ~...
4
votes
Could not understand why 命令形 (imperative form) is used in this sentence from 1Q84 book
This is not 命令形。 Nobody is telling anyone what to do here, but rather a somewhat poetic description of the actions.
Think of it as shortened 「ずらせて」「脱がせて」。
Besides, 命令形 would be: ずらせろ。脱がせろ。Then, you ...
4
votes
Accepted
Difference between ~てなさい and ~なさい
I don't think this is so much the difference between the two but rather a combination of the two. Here the て-form is used in the continuous sense, 休んでいる, and the なさい is simply applied to the end. In ...
3
votes
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Please help me understand 思い巡らせた
巡る kind of means to go around from place to place.
The 巡 kanji is used for 巡回 and 巡礼 where it means the same.
It is also possible to write 巡る as 回る, so you can see that it has the idea of going ...
3
votes
Accepted
Why does 逃げよ mean 'Escape!"?
Wasn't it 逃げよう (with the last vowel elongated) that you actually heard?
Then that's what's called the volitional-form of a verb. You can create it by replacing the last る with よう for vowel-stem (aka ...
3
votes
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About くれ in 契約を守ってくれなくては困る
No. It's the negative-form. Imperative-forms usually end the sentence. To understand this I'll break the sentence down:
...守って/くれ/なく/て/は/困る
Let's remove the parts なくては困る to understand what it is.
...
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