Giving commands just like in any language can come across very rude, this is no different in Japanese so be careful how you use this form; commanding other is not exactly a polite thing to do, after all. This form is used by people in a position of authority or much higher status than the receiver of the command.
The command form is not restricted to just social standing but can also be used in moments of danger to give warnings like "Run away!" or "Everyone get out!" if there's a fire or something; this is because the command is not targeted to a specific person or group and is not intended to offend anyone.
As the male gender is generally seen as violent and hateful, you may come across learning resource that state this command form is used by boys and men, however, this is certainly not true at all; girls and women certainly use this form too and just as aggressively, if not even more so.
In Japanese, there are different levels of commands all based on politeness. There are nicer ways to command and less polite ways to command. This does not make giving commands overall any politer by the fact you are still ordering other people around which is still quite rude.
Do - commands
Here are some ways to command someone to do something. The most polite at the top of the list and least polite at the bottom. If you need a reminder on verb bases and verb types, please check out our other lesson covering Verb Bases first.
| Do Commands |
|---|
| Base te + ください |
| Base te |
| Godan - Base 4 Change the /u/ sound to an /e/ sound |
| Ichidan - Base 2 + ろ Drop the る and replace it with ろ |
As you may have noticed, the lowest levels of politeness becomes a little more confusing. This is because it changes depending on the verb type. For the least polite irregular verbs, here they are:
- する => しろ
- くる => こい
- いく => いけ
Here are some examples of do-commands:
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 助けって tasukete |
Help me |
| やめろ! yamero |
Quit it! |
Do not - commands
Here are the basic commands for someone not to do something. Again, the most polite is at the top of the list and the least polite at the bottom.
| Do Not Commands |
|---|
| Base 1 + ないでください Replace る with "naide kudasai" |
| Base 1 + ないで Replace る with "naide" |
| Base 3 + な Dictionary Form with "na" |
See how both the politer forms of do and don't commands use ください on them? It is a politeness expression meaning "please" but it should not be used all by itself.
New Words to Learn
Here are some words that could work with commands. Remember to check out words like these using an online dictionary such as japandict.com to hear the pitch accent and explore other Japanese content to see how they are used in real conversions.
| English | Romaji | Kana | Kanji | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Help | tasukeru | たすける | 助ける |
| I | Quit | yameru | やめる | 止める |
| G | Stand | tatsu | たつ | 立つ |
| G | Become | naru | なる | 成る |
| G | Shut up | damaru | だまる | 黙る |
| G | Take | toru | とる | 取る |
| G | Buy | kau | かう | 買う |
| G | Sell | uru | うる | 売る |
| G | Search | sagasu | さがす | 探す |
| G | Apologise | ayamaru | あやまる | 謝る |
Additional Notes
Some words may have different meanings or expressions so check out online dictionaries such as japandict.com or jisho.org to find out more.
These example sentences may be presented in an unnatural or artificial way. Continue to broaden your research and listen to how real Japanese native people speak. It's important to make sure you have many other resources to use. Do not rely on this website alone.
Related Lessons and References
Here is a list of other pages as a reference of what else you may be interested in reading: