Structure
Verb[ないで]+ ください
Politeness Levels
Details
Part of Speech
Expression
Word Type
Auxiliary Verb
Register
Polite
About ないでください
ないでください is an expression that is used to politely ask someone 'not' to do something. It is a combination of the casual negative form of a verb, the で particle, and ください (the conjunctive form of くださる).
ください is classified as honorific language, a type of polite speech that is used to refer to the actions of other people. The ください form of くださる is used almost exclusively for making requests. くださる is the honorific language equivalent of くれる.
In friendly conversation, ください may be omitted from this expression, and the で form itself can be used as a very casual way of saying 'please don't do (A)'.
Caution
Although ください is the polite form of くれる, ください is considered the base form of this phrase, and ないでくれ (the conjunctive form of くれる) would be considered far too casual in most situations.
Synonyms
Antonyms
てください
Please do (Polite request)
Not studied yet
てくれる
To do something for someone (usually you)
Not studied yet
お~願う
Please, Could you please
Not studied yet
お~ください
Please do (Honorific)
Not studied yet
てごらん
(Please) try to, (Please) look
Not studied yet
ていただけませんか
Won't you, Could you please (Humble request)
Not studied yet
なさい
Command to do
Not studied yet
Examples
--:--
Get more example sentences!
Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.
行かないでください。
Please don't go.
ここでサッカーをしないでください。
Please don't play soccer here.
泣かないでください。
Please don't cry.
一人にしないでください。
Please don't leave me alone.
それを食べないでください。
Please don't eat that.
Self-Study Sentences
Study your own way!
Add sentences and study them alongside Bunpro sentences.
Online
~ないでください
E-Japanese
ないでください
JLPTSensei
Don't do ~ (ないでください)
Japanese Ammo
Offline
Genki I
Page 157
Genki I 2nd Edition
Page 194
Marugoto Elementary 1 (A2) Rikai
Page 140
みんなの日本語 I
Page 110 [CH 17]
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 209
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 179
[AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
Page 53
Track Resources!
Bunpro tracks all of the resources you’ve visited, and offers relevant bookmarks of physical books to help with offline tracking.
ないでください – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (9 in total)
durtle9831
There is actually a really similar grammar point that explains the thing i got confused about in a broader application. Hope this helps someone.
- ないで | Japanese Grammar SRS .
KrisV70
I often get this grammar point wrong ないでください
て+は+いけません
Is the construction I use.I am saying you mustn’t play soccer here if I understand it correctly.
And it is still polite.What am I missing here?
Wimble
Apologies if this is the wrong place, but for the example sentence:
トイレに行くのは忘れないでください。
Is the の in 行くのは used for nominalisation?
If so, does 忘れる need to act on a “noun phrase” and does this extend to all transitive verbs?
Got questions about ないでください? Join us to discuss, ask, and learn together!
Join the Discussion