ない方(ほう)がいいIt'd be better not to, Shouldn't do

Most Recent Replies (23 in total)

• 

  Jake

  it’d be better not to

  Structure

  • Verb[ない] + 方・が・いい

  [Very strong suggestion/advice, with indirect implication of negative consequences if hearer doesn’t follow it(like becoming ill etc.)]

  View on Bunpro

• 

  misterkite

  The “方がいい - it’d be better to” piece of grammar links here!

  Also, I wanted to suggest that you guys call this piece of grammar “た 方 が い い - it would be better to”, since the verb has to be in the た form. This way, it may be easier to remember! Besides, that’s the pattern that I see you guys use.

• 

  mrnoone

  Hey
  We have not only fixed forum link, but also changed the title of grammar point

  Cheers

• 

  Marcus

  Excellent video on this grammar point here:
  
• 

  Pushindawood

  @Marcus Thank you for the share! I have added this video to the Readings for this grammar point. Cheers!

• 

  mattbacon

  Why, in 〜たほうがいい, is the past form used, but in 〜ないほうがいい it’s not past negative?

• 

  mrnoone

  Hey

  Sorry for the late answer.

  Unfortunately, this is just one of those cases where it is a set phrase and must be remembered as such.

  ---

  You can try to understand the probable origin of it, but you have to look at Japanese from a different perspective. Instead of thinking in terms of tense (referring to the time of something, past, present or future) we should think in terms of aspect - in other words if something has been completed (perfective) or not (imperfective).

  When たほうがいい is used, it implies that the action should already be completed - perfective. Basically saying, “what the heck are you doing, it should be already done”.
  It kind of puts pressure on the listener.

  Negative imperfective form (ない) indicates negation of habitual or future actions.

  While negative perfective form (なかった) indicates an action that has not ...

• 

  ulurujamman

  Is it grammatically necessary to drop the を here after compound する verbs?

  i.e. 仕事しないほうがいい vs 仕事をしないほうがいい

• 

  sirati97

  no it is not neccessary, but why pronounce something where you dont have to. (there are some new loanwords where you have to use wo)

• 

  testing

  How does “雨が降らない方がいい。” (“If it does not rain, it would be better.”) fit into this? Especially considering that it is not just a “Very strong suggestion/advice”, but also “with indirect implication of negative consequences if the listener doesn’t follow it (they will become ill etc.)”?

  Unless the speaker is Catbug Capoo, I mean.

• 

  mrnoone

  @testing (by the way, interesting nickname )

  Hey

  You are right, it doesn’t fit the grammar point well. While the sentence is actually natural in another context, for example:

  「雨が降るか雨が降らないかどちらの方がいいでしょうか？」
  「どっちでもいいけどどちらかと言うと雨が降らない方がいい。」
  “Which would you like better, for it to rain or not?”
  “Either is good, but If I had to say then I prefer it not to rain.” (the not rain one)

  I have replaced the sentence with one that fits the grammar point better.

  Sorry for the inconvenience!
  Cheers!

• 

  Savannah

  《親おやが子供こどもに》「犬いぬのうんこをつつかないほうがいいよ。」[つつく」
  《Parent to child:》 ‘It’d be better not to poke the dog poop.’

  Why did my prompt specify that it was a parent speaking to a child? It wasn’t relevant (there’s nothing in the grammar info that says you should only use this phrase with children), and if anything it confused me into thinking it was asking for a different phrase than what I would normally think of.

• 

  FredKore

  It’s just giving some more context. Some sentences are done as if it’s a dialogue. Here, the 「」shows that it’s a quote.
  Besides, it’d be kinda weird for an adult to say this to another adult.

  (That said, @Jake the hint "[つつく」"should be “[つつく]” .)

• 

  EdBunpro

  You’re just now telling me this?!

• 

  Savannah

  Okay, but again, the grammar info doesn’t say that you should only use it with children. If that’s the case, it should be in the grammar info. And as far as context, the context only confused me, so it was the opposite of helpful.

• 

  FredKore

  It seems you’re misinterpreting the symbols 《》[ ] 「」( ).
  《》 = indicates who’s talking
  「」 = quotes spoken words
  （ ）= implied words or unspoken words
  [ ] = contains hints needed to correctly answer
• 

  Savannah

  …Who are you talking to? I didn’t say anything about symbols.

• 

  FredKore

  That was inappropriate. Everyone here tries to help each other.

  Your post implied that Bunpro is telling you that the answer should depend on the fact that it’s a parent. They’re not. It doesn’t matter that it’s a parent. It’s extra context, not a hint. The symbols indicate that “parent” is not a hint.

  You’ve already made it known that you thought it was confusing. There’s no need to attack people because it was confusing.

  The community and the team welcomes any suggestions for improving the wording or layout of the question.

• 

  bilowik

  Would using the polite non-past negative be grammatically incorrect, or just sound awkward? IE: その肉を食べませんほうがいい[です?]

• 

  nekoyama

  It would be both incorrect and awkward