Politely (and not so politely) making requests
Similar to asking for favors, which we learned in the last lesson, there are also various ways to make requests in Japanese. This is effectively the Japanese way of saying, “please do X”. We’ll first learn the most common way to make requests using a special conjugation of the verb 「くださる」 and the firmer 「なさる」. Finally, we’ll learn the rarely used excessively strong command form for the sake of completeness. You can safely skip the last part unless you’re an avid reader of manga.
「～ください」－ a special conjugation of 「くださる」
Vocabulary
- それ – that
- くれる (ru-verb) – to give
- 漢字 【かん・じ】 – Kanji
- 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
- ここ – here
- 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
- 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
- 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
- 消しゴム 【け・し・ごむ】 – eraser
- 貸す 【か・す】 (u-verb) – lend
- 遠い 【とお・い】 (i-adj) – far
- 所 【ところ】 – place
- 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
- お父さん【お・とう・さん】 – father (polite)
- 時計 【と・けい】 – watch; clock
- 壊れる 【こわ・れる】 (ru-verb) – to break
- 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
「ください」 is a special conjugation of 「くださる」, which is the honorific form of 「くれる」. We will learn more about honorific and humble forms in the beginning of the next major section. We are going over 「ください」 here because it has a slight difference in meaning from the normal 「くれる」 and the honorific 「くださる」. 「ください」 is different from 「くれる」 in the following fashion:
- それをください。
Please give me that. - それをくれる？
Can you give me that?
As you can see 「ください」 is a direct request for something while 「くれる」 is used as a question asking for someone to give something. However, it is similar to 「くれる」 in that you can make a request for an action by simply attaching it to the te-form of the verb.
- 漢字で書いてください。
Please write it in kanji. - ゆっくり話してください。
Please speak slowly.
The rules for negative requests are same as the rules for 「くれる」 as well.
- 落書きを書かないでください。
Please don’t write graffiti. - ここにこないでください。
Please don’t come here.
In casual speech, it is often common to simply drop the 「ください」 part.
-
日本語で話して。
Please speak in Japanese. - 消しゴムを貸して。
Please lend me the eraser. - 遠い所に行かないで。
Please don’t go to a far place.
For those who want to sound particularly commanding and manly, it is also possible to use 「くれる」 with the 「る」 removed.
-
日本語で話してくれ。
Speak in Japanese. - 消しゴムを貸してくれ。
Lend me the eraser. - 遠い所に行かないでくれ。
Don’t go to a far place.
Because 「ください」 like the masu-form must always come at the end sentence or a relative clause, you cannot use it to directly modify a noun. For example, the following is not possible with 「ください」.
- お父さんがくれた時計が壊れた。
The clock that father gave broke.
Of course, since direct quotes is merely repeating something someone said in verbatim, you can put practically anything in a direct quote.
- 「それをください」とお父さんが言った。
Father said, “Please give me that.”
Using 「～ちょうだい」 as a casual request
Vocabulary
- 頂戴 【ちょうだい】 – receiving (humble)
- 致す 【いたす】 (u-verb) – to do (humble)
- スプーン – spoon
- ここ – here
- 名前 【な・まえ】 – name
- 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
A casual alternative of 「ください」 is 「ちょうだい」. While it can be used by anyone, it has a slightly feminine and childish nuance and is always written in Hiragana. Written in Kanji, it is usually used in a very formal expression such as 「頂戴致します」. Grammatically, it’s used exactly the same way as 「ください」.
Examples
- スプーンをちょうだい。
Please give me the spoon. - ここに名前を書いてちょうだい。
Please write your name here.
Using 「～なさい」 to make firm but polite requests
Vocabulary
- 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
- 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
- する (exception) – to do
- いい (i-adj) – good
- 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
- ここ – here
- 座る 【すわ・る】 (ru-verb) – to sit
- まだ – yet
- いっぱい – full
- ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
- たくさん – a lot (amount)
- それ – that
- 思う 【おも・う】 (u-verb) – to think
- そう – (things are) that way
「なさい」 is a special honorific conjugation of 「する」. It is a soft yet firm way of issuing a command. It is used, for example, when a mother is scolding her child or when a teacher wants a delinquent student to pay attention. Unlike 「ください」, 「なさい」 only applies to positive verbs and uses the stem of the verb instead of the te-form. It also cannot be used by itself but must be attached to another verb.
- Conjugate the verb to its stem and attach 「なさい」
Examples- 食べ
る→ 食べなさい - 飲
む→ 飲み → 飲みなさい - する → し → しなさい
- 食べ
Examples
- よく聞きなさい！
Listen well! - ここに座りなさい。
Sit here.
You can also drop 「さい」 portion of the 「なさい」 to make a casual version of this grammar.
- まだいっぱいあるから、たくさん食べな。
There’s still a lot, so eat a lot. - それでいいと思うなら、そうしなよ。
If you think that’s fine, then go ahead and do it.
The Command Form
Vocabulary
- くれる (ru-verb) – to give
- 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
- する (exception) – to do
- 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
- 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
- 着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) – to wear
- 信じる 【しん・じる】 (ru-verb) – to believe
- 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
- 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake; to occur
- 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
- 掛ける 【か・ける】 (ru-verb) – to hang
- 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
- 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
- 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
- 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
- 待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) – to wait
- 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
- 直る 【なお・る】 (u-verb) – to be fixed
- 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
- 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable
- あっち – that way (over there) （abbr of あちら）
- 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
- 早い 【はや・い】 (i-adj) – fast; early
- 酒 【さけ】 – alcohol
- 持つ 【も・つ】 (u-verb) – to hold
We will go over the command form in the interest of covering all the possible verb conjugations. In reality, the command form is rarely used as Japanese people tend to be too polite to use imperatives. Also, this coarse type of speech is rarely, if indeed at all, used by females who tend to use 「なさい」 or an exasperated 「くれる」 when angry or irritated. This form is only really useful for reading or watching fictional works. You may often see or hear 「死ね！」 (“Die!”) in fiction which, of course, you’ll never hear in real life. (I hope!)
Be sure to note that, in addition to the familiar 「する」, 「くる」 exception verbs, 「くれる」 is also an exception for the command form.
- For ru-verbs: Replace the 「る」 with 「ろ」
- For u-verbs: Change the last character from an / u / vowel to an / e / vowel
- Exceptions:
- する → しろ
- くる → こい
- くれる → くれ
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Examples
- 好きにしろ。
Do as you please. - あっち行け！
Go away! - 早く酒を持ってきてくれ。
Hurry up and bring me some alcohol.
Negative Command
Vocabulary
- 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
- する (exception) – to do
- それ – that
- 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
- 変 【へん】 (na-adj) – strange
- こと – event, matter
- 言う 【い・う】 (u-verb) – to say
The negative command form is very simple: simply attach 「な」 to either ru-verbs or u-verbs. Don’t confuse this with the 「な」 sentence-ending particle we will be learning at the end of this section. The intonation is totally different.
- Attach 「な」 to the verb
Examples- 行く → 行くな
- する → するな
Examples
- それを食べるな！
Don’t eat that! - 変なことを言うな！
Don’t say such weird things!
This is not to be confused with the shortened version of 「～なさい」 we just learned in the last section. The most obvious difference (besides the clear difference in tone) is that in 「～なさい」, the verb is first converted to the stem while the negative command has no conjugation. For example, for 「する」, 「しな」 would be the short version of 「しなさい」 while 「するな」 would be a negative command.