Lesson 71 - Don't read lying down

You've learned how to give someone a command, but now we will learn how to give someone a negative command. As you already know, to tell someone how to stand up is tatte kudasai. To tell them not to stand up, you would say tatanai de kudasai. A negative command is the simple negative plus de. Another example would be isoganai de kudasai, which is "please don't hurry", from the verb isogimasu, to hurry.

Another way to tell someone not to do something is to tell them they must not do it. To tell someone "You must not stand", you would say tatte wa ikemasen. As you can see, it is merely the te form a verb with wa ikemasen added on. However, this way is more of a scolding than a request, and children may hear this when they disbehave. You can also use the negative command with another verb to tell someone to do something without doing something else. For example, to tell someone not to read while lying down, you would say Nete yomanai de kudasai. It is formed similar to a compound sentence.

Let's look at a conversation between Daisuke and his mother, Sumiko.

Sumiko: Daisuke kun wa yonde imasu ka?
Daisuke: Hai!
Sumiko: Yonde BEDDO o nenai de kudasai. Suwatte kudasai.
Daisuke: Demo, netai desu.
Sumiko: Nete wa ikemasen.
Daisuke: Hai, okaasan.
Sumiko: TEREBI o tsukemashita ka?
Daisuke: Hai. Boku wa shukudai o shite atarashii bangumi o mimashita.
Sumiko: Shukudai o shite TEREBI o minai de kudasai.
Daisuke: Demo, bangumi wa omoshirokatta desu!
Sumiko: Shukudai no ato de bangumi o mite mo ii desu.
Daisuke: Bangumi wa owarimasu! Boku wa isogimasu.
Sumiko: Isoide wa ikemasen. Osoku shite kudasai.
Daisuke: Hai, okaasan.

Sumiko begins by asking, "Daisuke, are you reading?" Daisuke replies he is and Sumiko says, "Don't lie down while reading. Please sit up." Daisuke replies that he wants to lie down, but Sumiko says, "You must not lie down." She then asks, "Did you turn on the television?" Tsukemasu is to turn something on, while keshimasu is to turn something off. Daisuke replies, "Yes. I watched a new program while doing homework." Bangumi is a program. Sumiko says, "Don't watch television while doing homework." Daisuke says, "But it was an interesting program!" but his mother replies, "You may watch the program after your homework." Daisuke replies, "The program will be over! I will hurry." Sumikoe says, "You must not hurry. Do it slowly." Daisuke reluctantly agrees.

Vocabulary Review
急ぎます Isogimasu- to hurry
点けます Tsukemasu- to turn on
消します Keshimasu- to turn off
番組 Bangumi- program