Imperative Forms
An imperative sentence is one that asks a request or makes a demand. In English, we only have one imperative form and the word "please" which we can add to make it more polite. Here are some examples in English.
Wash the dishes.
Please take out the trash.
Don't go outside when it's raining.
Have fun!
In Japanese, though, there are multiple imperative forms. Note that only Japanese verbs have imperative forms. The copula and I adjectives can still be made into commands, but I'll explain that in a later lesson.
Commands
Commands are very blunt ways to make a command. They are classified as "rough" words which I've talked about before, and are very inappropriate in polite environments. The only exception is that the rough command form can be used to encourage people at sports events and such. In English, we have to use our tone of voice to convey if a sentence would be a rough command or a standard command. Here's how you conjuagate this form.
RU Verbs
Remove the final "ru" and add "ro."
U Verbs
Remove the final "u" and add "e." Note that this can change the sound of some verbs. For example, a U verb ending in つ (tsu) in the command form changes to て (te), not "tse," which doesn't occur in Japanese.
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Irregular Verbs
The command form of する (suru) is しろ (shiro) and the command form of くる (kuru) is こい (koi).
Semi-Irregular Verbs
いく (iku) acts normally and becomes いけ (ike). ある doesn't have any imperative forms.
Negative Commands
You can also make a negative rough command by adding the word な (na) after the plain form of the verb. If you have very good memory or are a very good student, you might remember that there is a sentence-end postposition な (na) that looks exactly like this. Usually it isn't too hard to tell the difference, though.
Examples:
Requests
Requests are made using the TE form. The TE form by itself, with nothing else coming after it, makes it a plain-mode request. Requests are different from commands, because when you ask a request, you are asking someone to do something, in contrast to commands, where you are telling someone to do something. This is the imperative form you'd use amoung your friends and anyone else you use the plain form with. Since you already know how to conjugate the TE form, I don't need to reitterate it here, but I do need to show you how to form negative requests.
Negative Requests
Negative requests are made simply by taking the negative form of a verb and then adding で (de) after it.
Examples:
Polite Requests
One thing you will notice is that imperative sentences do not mention the subject of the sentence. It is assuemd that the subject is "you." However, with Japanese, this can be a little confusing when you start to omit words. Try not to get into the habit of translating sentences whose subjects are omitted as imperative setences.
Take this Japanese sentence for example.
りんごをたべます。
Ringo o tabemasu.
Now if you take this sentence word for word and try and translate it, you may very easily be mislead. Word by word, this sentence means "some apples, eat." Many begining students will mistake this sentence to mean "eat some apples, please" however, it actually means "(I/he/she) eats apples." It's simply that the subject is not stated.
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