Imperative Verbs

At the moment the only way we have to give an order is to ask politely for someone to do something using the te-form.

電話でんわしてください。

Please call me.

Among friends, simply dropping the ください acts as a standard, casual command (e.g., 電話でんわして！ / Call me!). However, if we want to add true force to these requests or speak in specific top-down situations, we need to use the imperative forms.

Group 1

Group 1 verbs have two main forms of the imperative.

English	Dictionary	Standard	Gentle (Top-Down)
to go	行いく	行いけ	行いきなさい
to reply	返かえす	返かえせ	返かえしなさい
to request	頼たのむ	頼たのめ	頼たのみなさい
to drink	飲のむ	飲のめ	飲のみなさい
to exist	ある	あれ	ありなさい

Note that from the above the imperative of the auxiliary verb (である) becomes であれ.

Group 2

Group 2 verbs have three forms of the imperative, which I’m going to call the literary, standard, and gentle because of their general usage.

English	Dictionary	Literary	Standard	Gentle
to eat	食たべる	食たべよ	食たべろ	食たべなさい
to accept	受うける	受うけよ	受うけろ	受うけなさい
to see	見みる	見みよ	見みろ	見みなさい
to leave	出でる	出でよ	出でろ	出でなさい

Group 3

Group 3 verbs also have three forms of the imperative.

English	Dictionary	Literary	Standard	Gentle
to do	する	せよ	しろ	しなさい
to come	来くる	来こよ	来こい	来きなさい

Nuance and Usage

In terms of general usage, the gentle form (〜なさい) is softer than the standard forms. It is heavily used in top-down situations, such as by a parent telling their children to eat or go to bed, or by a teacher giving instructions on an exam.

もう１０時じだから早はやく寝ねなさいよ。

It’s already 10 o’clock so get to bed quickly.

The addition of よ to the imperative can also help soften it.
As I have alluded to previously, Japanese is a language which places much emphasis on the underlying power dynamics. The standard imperative form (行いけ, 食たべろ, しろ) very much debases the listener and therefore needs to be used carefully. Even in a jocular manner, a subordinate in a company would never use it towards their boss; nor would anyone towards a customer.

みんなが待まっているから早はやく来こい！

Everyone’s waiting so come quickly!

自分じぶんで判断はんだんしろ！

Judge for yourself!

黙だまれ！

Shut up!

時間じかんを守まもれ！

Be punctual!

中途半端ちゅうとはんぱな作業さぎょうをやっちゃったらみんな困こまるからしっかりやれよ。

If you do a half-baked job then it will be a problem for everyone, so do it properly.

Honorific Imperatives

Honorific verbs deserve a special mention because they are used to form a number of very common phrases in Japanese. Honorific verbs conjugate as group 1 verbs and so have two forms of the imperative. The three most important verbs are given in the table below.

English	Dictionary	Literary	Standard
to deign	下くださる	下くだされ	下ください
to exist	いらっしゃる	いらっしゃれ	いらっしゃい
to do	なさる	なされ	なさい

You may have noticed that the standard imperative form of the verb “to deign” is the exact ending we use with the te-form to say “please”.

早はやく来きてください。

Please come quickly.

To this you may also hear ませ added. Indeed, enter any shop or restaurant in Japan and the staff will welcome you with a polite order to enter their premises!

いらっしゃいませ！

Please come in!

The imperative form of なさる is used within several daily greetings.

おやすみなさい。

Goodnight!

お帰かえりなさい。

Welcome home.

Negative Commands (The Two “な”s)

What about ordering someone not to do something? This one is simple: we just add な directly to the dictionary form of the verb.

忘わすれるな！

Don’t forget!

破やぶるならそもそも約束やくそくするな。

If you’re going to break your promise don’t make it in the first place.

Crucial JLPT Trap: You must be very careful about where you attach the な. If you attach な to the Dictionary Form, it is a negative command (“Don’t!”). If you attach な to the Verb Stem, it is actually a casual abbreviation of なさい (“Do it!”).

• 飲のむな (Dictionary + な) = Don’t drink!
• 飲のみな (Stem + な) = Drink up. (Short for 飲のみなさい)

The Imperative with Adjectives

Finally, while adjectives technically have an imperative form you will rarely see them used unless in the form of an old saying or proverb.

良よかれ悪あしかれ。

For better or worse.