てはいけない / てはならない Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Phrase
Essential Meaning: Must not do X / Do not do X
Construction:
- Verb て-Form + はいけない
- E.g. 話してはいけない [X must not speak]
- E.g. 食べてはいけない [ X must not eat]
Notes:
- てはいけない is used to express prohibition against some action (i.e. “X can not Y“, “X must not Y“, “X should not Y“).
- The second person (i.e. the person being spoken to and having a prohibition imposed upon them) is usually omitted. This is generally true of second person subjects in Japanese.
- E.g. この部屋に入ってはいけない。[You must not enter this room.]
- E.g. 教室でものを食べてはいけない。[You must not eat in the classroom.]
- てはいけない is often used as a negative response to the question X てもいいですか? [May I…?].
- E.g. A: 食べてもいいですか。B: いいえ、食べてはいけない。[A: May I eat? B: No, you may not eat.]
- てはならない is basically a stronger version of てはいけない.
- E.g. この部屋に入ってはならない。[You must not enter this room.]
Example Sentences:
この部屋に入ってはいけない。[You must not enter this room.]
教室でものを食べてはいけない。[You must not eat in the classroom.]
花子はまだ酒を飲んではいけない。[Hanako must not drink alcohol yet.]
WILD Examples:
***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***