Page 476 - Basic Japanese

Kono tegami o yonde moraemasen ka.

Kono tegami o yonde itadaki-tai n desu ga.

Kono tegami o yonde itadakenai deshō ka.

Negative requests are not ordinarily made except in the

form of prohibitions to inferiors: Itsu mo o-kashi o tabete wa
ikemasen yo ‘You mustn’t eat sweets all the time.’ To a social
equal or superior, you suggest that ‘it would be better not’

to do something: Sore o tabenai hō ga ii deshō ‘It would be

better if you didn’t eat that.’ Or, given two alternatives, you
emphasize the positive one: Sore o tabenai de, kore o tabete
kudasai ‘Please eat this one instead of that one.’

9.21. Answers to negative questions

The words hai (or ē) and īe are used to mean ‘what you’ve
said is correct’ and ‘what you’ve said is incorrect.’ So if you

state a question in a negative way, the standard Japanese