Should not do with 〜てはいけない
Saying one should not perform an action is conveyed by a verb in its て form, the particle は, and the verb いけない (“wrong”, “not good”, “must not do”). Although this does not strictly prohibit an action, it gives a sense of it being wrong to do the action.
See also
- To prohibit (rather than simply discourage) an action, 〜てはだめだ is used.
- For an old-fashioned way to strongly forbid an action, 〜べからず is used.
Examples
Further Reading
- Chino, Naoko. "Commands and Prohibitions." Japanese Verbs at a Glance, Kodansha, 2000, pp. 35–36
- Chino, Naoko. "Basic Pattern 27." A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns, Kodansha, 2000, p. 192
- Kamiya, Takeo. "Usage of Verb Forms." The Handbook of Japanese Verbs, Kodansha, 2001, p. 160
- Kamiya, Taeko. "Commands, Requests, Suggestions, Approval, Disapproval, Prohibition, and Obligation." Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication, Kodansha, 2005, p. 175
- Makino, Seiichi and Michio Tsutsui. "Main Entries." A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, The Japan Times Ltd., 1989, p. 528