How to Make Commands and Requests in Japanese

Last time, you learned how to make invitations and offers, e.g. “一緒いっしょに歌うたいませんか (Won’t you sing [a song] with me)？” and “一緒いっしょに歌うたいましょうか (Shall we sing [a song] together)？” Then, if you would like to say, ”Please sing a song,” what should you do? In this lesson, you will learn how to make commands and requests.

Explanation for How to Express Commands and Requests

If you read Japanese manga or books, you may often find those who give commands. However, they are rarely used in practice. For the sake of completeness, we will pick up the command form here. In the public, it is almost always better to use expressions to make requests.

Commands

There are two forms to express commands and you need to choose the proper one depending on the situation. First, let’s check the conjugation rules.

Ru-verb: To Replace ru with ro or nasai

U-verbs: To Replace u with e or inasai

Two Exceptions

The conjugation for the second command form is the same as the one for the polite form. Instead of ます, you attach なさい to stems. Now, let’s move to examples.

Examples

The first command form is used in intense situations such as disasters, sports, and fights. Some men use this between close friends, but it is not recommended for those who learn Japanese as a second language. Subjects are often omitted in command sentences.

It’s totally a different conjugation, but if you attach な to the plain form of verbs, you can express negative commands.

There are some ways to give a nuance to command sentences. One of them is to add the sentence ending particle よ. If you pronounce it with rising intonation, it indicates that you blame people for their disobedience. If you pronounce it with flat intonation, it sounds like a soft command.

If there are some contexts that people need to obey commands or rules, you can use the explanatory のだ instead of the command form. They have almost the same meaning, but のだ implies that you’ve made commands based on contexts that people share. In this context, when you use negative commands, you need to conjugate のだ into the negative form, not verbs.

The second command form is used from superior people to inferior people in status, e.g. teachers to students and parents to children. This sounds politer than the first form. For example, you can see this in exam instructions.

You cannot make negative commands with this form. Thus, you need to utilize antonyms or nominalizers の + “止める: to stop” (We hope that you remember こと cannot be used with 止める).

Requests

As opposed to the command form, you don’t have to learn a new conjugation. You can express requests by utilizing the te-form. There are some expressions which have various levels of formality. Let’s learn them one by one.

…て（ください）

The first sentence pattern is the te-form itself. By now, you have utilized the te-form as a base of conjugation. However, the te-form alone can express requests. ください is the equivalent to “please” in English. Be careful; this is a direct expression and should be used when it is reasonable or natural to make requests. For instance, we can say that the example above is a conversation between a taxi driver and a customer.

By combining the causative form and setting yourself as both a direction-giver and a doer, you can express requests with a nuance of offering to do something. This is often used in everyday life.

There is a similar expression to ください, which is …くれ. However, this sounds rude and is only used by a few elder men. If you would like to make casual requests, you should use just the te-form. It’s naturally used between family and friends.

“くれる: to give” is an exception and doesn’t have the te-form to make a request. Thus, you need to use different words, which are くれ (rude), ちょうだい (casual), and ください (polite). They can actually work as both verbs and helping verbs. In practice, くれ is rarely used, ちょうだい is used between family or friends, and ください is used in formal situations.

…てくれ（る / ますか / ませんか）？

The second sentence pattern is the te-form + くれる. In this context, the negative question is the politest of the three. This expression is less direct than the first one and polite enough to make a request in any situation.

…てもらえ（る / ますか / せんか）？

The third sentence pattern is the te-form + the potential form of もらう. This is politer than the te-form + くれる. As you learned, もらう is used from the receiver’s point of view. Therefore, grammatically speaking, subjects should be request-givers. However, you can use this just like くれる and consider this as the equivalent to “can / could you” in English.

In practice, you will also see the following sentences when you make requests to some people. Even if you use もらえる, subjects can be recipients of requests.

Negative Questions: …で

You can express negative requests by attaching で to the plain-negative form of verbs. Apart from that, you can use the same grammar as normal requests.

Requests with the Sentence Ending Particle よ and ね

The sentence-ending particles sometimes appear when you use the te-form to make requests. The both of the examples mean “Please teach [me] Japanese.” However, the よ gives a nuance to persuade you while the ね gives a nuance to seek agreement.

Summary

1. The command form (しろ) is used in intense situations e.g. disasters, sports, and fights.
2. The command form (なさい) is used from superior people to inferior people in status.
3. The te-form + ください, くれる, and もらえる express requests with different levels of formality.
4. The plain form + な indicates negative commands.
5. The plain-negative form + で indicates negative requests.

You may feel that the English translations we made sound unnatural, especially for もらえる. Since English doesn’t have the concept of あげる・くれる・もらう, it was a little hard to translate nicely. Thus, please just memorize that もらえる is used to make a request and is politer than くれる. We think that’s the simplest way. Next, you will learn how to express obligation and prohibition.