Page 420 - Basic Japanese

-(a)nakute wa ikemasen

-(a)nakute wa narimasen
-(a)nakute wa dame desu
(‘not doing is no good’)

Permission ‘may, can’ Denial of Permission =
Prohibition ‘may not,
must not’

-te mo ii desu (‘even doing is -te wa narimasen

good’) -te wa dame desu
-te wa ikemasen (‘doing is no

good’)

A confusing point about these expressions is that what
looks like the negative equivalent of permission, the form -

(a)nakute mo ii, is not the denial of permission but the denial
of obligation. On the other hand, what looks the affirmative

equivalent of the obligation expression, the form -te wa
ikemasen, is the denial of permission = prohibition. This is

just a case of misleading formal similarities. Some students
find it easier to remember these expressions as single units:

-(a)nakereba-narimasen ‘must,’ -(a)nakute-wa-ikemasen ‘must,’ -

(a)nakute-mo-ii-desu ‘need not,’ -te-mo-ii-desu ‘may,’ -te-wa-
ikemasen ‘must not.’ However you learn them, remember the

following points:

(1) Japanese often pause within the expression,

before the last word: -(a)nakereba, narimasen; -
(a)nakute wa, ikemasen; -(a)nakute mo, ii desu; -te

mo, ii desu.

(2) You will also want to learn the less common

variants -(a)nakereba ikemasen, -(a)nakute wa