The Japanese Imperative Form (命令形): Plain Commands and Prohibitions

The Japanese imperative form (命令形, meireikei) is the verb shape used for a bare command, instruction, or motivational shout directed at a sentient agent.¹² It is the most direct register a learner meets at N4. It is also the form most strongly marked as rude when used outside its natural habitats.³⁴

Overview

The imperative is one of the six classical 活用形 (conjugation bases) that still organise the modern verb paradigm: 未然形, 連用形, 終止形, 連体形, 已然形 (modern 仮定形), and 命令形.⁵⁶ By N4, a learner already controls the polite ます-form, the negative ない-form, the linking て-form, and the past た-form. The 命令形 completes the set as the productive base that carries the speaker's direct will.³

This article covers the full N4 command paradigm in one place: the plain imperative by verb class, the literary せよ variant, the soft masu-stem plus な that contracts from なさい, and the prohibitive dictionary form plus な. It also names the homograph trap, where the two な forms look the same, and gives a defensible answer to the register question every learner asks.

Where the imperative sits among the verb forms

Functionally, the 命令形 expresses the speaker's wish directed at a sentient agent: a command, an instruction, or a motivational statement.² It belongs beside ます, ない, て, and た as a regular verb form. It also inflects from the same dictionary form a learner already uses to look up a verb.³

Among those productive forms, the imperative is the only one with a sharp register signal. Switching from 書きます to 書け is not a small step down the politeness scale. It crosses into a register that most native speakers will not use with most adult listeners.⁴⁷

Register at a glance

The bare imperative is uncommon in daily conversation and is the form most strongly marked as rude. Native speakers use it only in specific habitats.³⁴ Those habitats are well documented: traffic and safety signs, public posters and slogans, sports cheers, drill commands, urgent shouts, and fiction dialogue.³⁴⁸

Use is also asymmetric on a status axis. Speakers in a position of authority direct it downward (teachers to students, coaches to players, parents to children). Reverse-direction use, from a subordinate to a superior or between customer and staff in either direction, is socially blocked.⁴⁷

Recognise it everywhere, output it almost nowhere

A learner should be able to parse 止まれ, 逃げろ, and 触るな on sight. A learner should almost never produce those forms toward another person. Default to 〜てください or 〜なさい when actually addressing someone.⁴⁷

Plain imperative: forms by verb class

The plain imperative conjugates from the dictionary form by three rules, one for each verb class. The pattern is consistent: the classical e-row shift carries through every godan verb, and the irregulars are short enough to memorise outright.³⁴⁹

一段 (ichidan / ru-verbs): drop る, add ろ

The 一段 rule is the simplest of the three: remove the final る of the dictionary form and add ろ.³⁴⁹

早はやく寝ねろ！³
"Go to sleep already!"

このドアを開あけろ！⁸
"Open this door!"

ゴミはゴミ箱ばこに捨すてろ！³
"Throw your trash in the trash can!"

A literary variant よ (食べる → 食べよ) survives in formal writing, mottos, school rules, military orders, and religious texts. Standard Tokyo speech uses ろ.²⁸ A 1991 dialect survey records ろ dominant in eastern dialects, よ in central Chūbu and eastern Kyushu, and い in western Honshu and Shikoku.²

五段 (godan / u-verbs): shift the final kana to the e-row

The 五段 rule replaces the final う-row kana of the dictionary form with the matching え-row kana on the same consonant.³⁴⁹ The whole paradigm is one shift across nine consonant rows.

Dictionary	Imperative	Reading
書く	書け	kake
読む	読め	yome
話す	話せ	hanase
待つ	待て	mate
飲む	飲め	nome
死ぬ	死ね	shine
遊ぶ	遊べ	asobe
急ぐ	急げ	isoge
買う	買え	kae

The e-row shift is a pattern you already know

The same e-row shift underlies the potential stem (書ける) and the conditional 仮定形 (書けば). All three derive from the classical 已然形 / 命令形 paradigm, both of which sat on the e-row of the godan verb.⁵⁶¹⁰ Naming the connection helps the rule stick the first time you meet it.

もっと飲のめ！³
"Drink more!"

私わたしの携帯けいたいを返かえせ！³
"Give back my cellphone!"

止とまれ。⁸
"Stop." (standard road-sign text)

Irregulars: する → しろ / せよ, 来る → 来い (こい)

する has two productive imperatives. The spoken default is しろ. The literary variant せよ is preserved in exam rubrics, signage, mottos, and military or religious instructions (注意せよ, 説明せよ).⁹⁸

来る reads こい in the imperative, not くる. This is the only place the verb's root vowel surfaces in modern conjugation.³⁴⁹

くれる is a third short-list irregular: its imperative is くれ, which drops only the final る without an e-row shift. Attached to a て-form, it produces the vulgar male-coded request 〜てくれ (書いてくれ, ちょっと待ってくれ).⁴¹¹⁸

先生せんせいが「皆みな静しずかにしろ！」と言いった。³
"The teacher said, 'Everyone, be quiet!'"

熊くまだ！逃にげろー！⁴
"A bear! Run!"

早はやく来こい。¹¹
"Come quickly."

Auxiliary and copula notes

ある and the copula だ have no productive plain imperative. Learners should not try to coin あれ or だれ as a command.¹¹ I-adjectives likewise have no productive imperative. Fossilised relics survive only in set expressions such as 善かれ悪しかれ ("right or wrong").¹¹

The five ーaru honorific verbs なさる, くださる, いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, and ござる form their imperative and masu-stem on -i rather than the e-row: なさい, ください, いらっしゃい, おっしゃい, ござい.¹¹¹² This is the etymological source of the formal command suffix 〜なさい, itself the imperative of the honorific なさる. It is also the source of the softened masu-stem plus な that contracts from なさい.^1371112 Older, non-contracted variants いらっしゃれ, くだされ, and おっしゃれ survive regionally and in archaic registers.¹¹

The two ～な forms (and why they look identical)

Two completely separate grammar points both attach the single kana な to a verb. One is a warm, downward positive command. The other is a blunt prohibition. The kana is identical, and disambiguation is entirely structural. That is why the trap is worth naming explicitly before either form is drilled.¹¹⁴⁷

Soft positive ～な: masu-stem + な (a contraction of ～なさい)

The soft positive attaches な to the masu-stem (連用形) of the verb.¹³⁷ In meaning, it is a warm, encouraging command used downward to children, juniors, and close peers. It is authoritative without being formal.¹³⁷ Etymologically, it is the truncation of 〜なさい, itself the imperative of the honorific なさる.⁷¹²

野菜やさいを食たべな。¹³
"Eat your vegetables."

早はやく帰かえりな。¹³
"Get home early."

Prohibitive ～な: dictionary form + な ("don't")

The prohibitive attaches な to the dictionary (終止形) form.¹¹⁴ It is a blunt prohibition, stronger than the plain positive imperative. It is the standard reading on warning signs and the default in heated speech.¹⁴⁸

Casual speech may contract 〜るな to 〜んな: 食べるな → 食べんな, 来るな → 来んな.¹⁴ Speakers can soften it with 〜なよ (friendly advice) or 〜なってば (frustrated concern), as in 嘘つくなよ and 無理すんなってば.¹⁴

触さわるな！¹⁴
"Don't touch!"

心配しんぱいするな。⁴
"Don't worry about it."

入はいるな。⁸
"Do not enter." (sign text)

The homograph trap, resolved by what comes before な

The kana な is identical in both forms. The disambiguator is whether the verb in front of it is the masu-stem (連用形) or the dictionary form (終止形).¹¹⁴⁷

Verb	Masu-stem + な (positive)	Dictionary + な (prohibitive)
食べる (ichidan)	食べな ("go ahead and eat")13	食べるな ("don't eat")14
飲む (godan)	飲みな ("drink up")13	飲むな ("don't drink")14
する	しな ("do it")13	するな ("don't do it")14
来る	来な (きな, "come on")13	来るな (くるな, "don't come")14

食たべな。¹³
"Go ahead and eat."

食たべるな！¹⁴
"Don't eat that!"

Read the verb shape before you read the な

For 一段 and する, the positive stem is a single mora shorter than the dictionary form. The prohibitive is the only one that keeps the full る. For 五段, the positive stem ends in an い-row kana (飲み), while the prohibitive keeps the う-row dictionary kana (飲む). Read the kana directly in front of な; the meaning follows from it.¹³¹⁴

Nuance and usage contexts

Where the plain imperative is normal

The plain imperative is the default register in several well-defined habitats:

• Traffic and safety signs: 止まれ (stop), 入るな (do not enter), 押すな (do not push), 触るな (do not touch).⁸
• Public posters and slogans, including school and corporate mottos and military-flavoured signage (注意せよ).⁸
• Sports cheers and motivational shouts: 頑張れ！, 走れ！.⁴⁸
• Urgent shouts in emergencies: 逃げろ！.⁴
• Fiction (anime, manga, drama), where writers use it freely for dramatic effect, including the literary せよ and 〜よ from kings, emperors, and officers.⁸
• Drill commands and parents or coaches losing patience.³⁴

Where it is forbidden

The plain imperative is socially blocked in every direction that runs upward on a status axis. It is also blocked across the service interface in either direction:

• Subordinate to superior in any hierarchy.⁴⁷
• Customer to staff and staff to customer in service settings.⁷
• Classroom requests directed at instructors, workplace email, and formal writing other than slogans or signage.⁷

The general rule for learners is straightforward: do not use the plain imperative with a stranger or with anyone above you on a status axis.⁴⁷

Polite alternatives, by intent

Every plain imperative has a polite counterpart that a learner can reach for instead. The choice depends on the relationship and on whether the command is positive or negative.

Form	Register	Direction	Use
〜てください	Neutral polite17	Any	Default polite request; the learner's safe choice.
〜なさい	Firm but polite137	Downward only	Parent or teacher to child or student.
masu-stem + な	Warm, light137	Downward only	Same direction as なさい, less formal.
〜ないでください	Polite "please don't"1	Any	Polite counterpart to prohibitive な.
〜てはいけない / 〜てはならない / 〜てはだめ	Rule-based "must not"15	Any	Decreasing formality across the three.

〜てください is the safe default when speaking to a person

A learner who is unsure which register fits can almost always reach for 〜てください for a positive request or 〜ないでください for a negative one. Both are neutral polite. Both work upward and across hierarchies, and neither carries the social risk of the plain imperative.¹⁷

Good to know

しろ vs せよ is a register split, not a regional one

しろ is the 口語 (spoken) default across modern Tokyo Japanese. せよ is the preserved 文語 (literary / classical) form, alive in formal written instructions, exam rubrics (説明せよ), signage, mottos, school rules, military orders, and religious texts.⁸ Both are productive within their respective habitats. A learner must recognise せよ in print and signage even though they will rarely use it.

Why the godan imperative looks like the potential and conditional stems

書く produces 書け (imperative), 書ける (potential), and 書けば (conditional). All three anchor in the classical 已然形 and 命令形, both of which sat on the e-row of the godan paradigm.⁵⁶¹⁰ This connection explains why the e-row shift "feels familiar" by N4: the learner has already met it twice before the imperative is formally introduced.

The なさい → な softening shows up across honorifics

The five ーaru honorific verbs (なさる, くださる, いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, ござる) take a -i ending in both the masu-stem and the imperative rather than the regular godan e-row shift.¹² なさい is the imperative of なさる; ください is the imperative of くださる; いらっしゃい ("welcome") is the imperative of いらっしゃる.¹¹¹² Honorific verbs deliver commands through a stem-shaped form, not through the e-row. That is why their command shapes look exceptional but follow a single internal rule.

Don't confuse prohibitive 〜な with sentence-final な

Sentence-final な after a non-imperative clause is a reflective or soft-assertive particle, not a prohibition.¹⁶ 今日は寒いな is "today is cold, huh." The predicate is an i-adjective, and there is no verb-imperative attachment to negate.

The disambiguators are what な attaches to and where it sits. Prohibitive 〜な follows the dictionary form of a verb and carries imperative force. Sentence-final な follows any clause and carries reflective or assertive force.¹⁴¹⁶ The correct shape for the prohibitive sense, when the verb is 寒い, simply does not exist. I-adjectives have no productive imperative or prohibitive form.¹¹

Using the plain imperative upward

A student saying 先生、書け。 to a teacher is the canonical wrong output: a subordinate using the plain imperative with a superior. The correct shape is a polite request.

先生せんせい、書かいてください。¹
"Teacher, please write it."

The plain imperative is socially blocked upward in any hierarchy. Native sources document it as rude and used by authority figures downward, never the reverse.⁴⁷

Output advice once the rules are in hand

Recognise the plain imperative in every medium where it appears: signage, sports, fiction, emergency shouts. Use it only when reading aloud, quoting fiction, or in a clearly low-stakes peer context where both speakers have already settled into casual register. Default to 〜てください or 〜なさい whenever actually addressing a real person across status lines.⁴⁷

See also

• Japanese Verb Groups: 一段, 五段, and Irregular
• The Nai-Form (ない形): Plain Negative of Japanese Verbs
• The Masu Form (ます): Polite Present and Future Tense
• The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)
• The Polite Volitional ～ましょう: How to Say "Let's" in Japanese
• Keigo Grammar Overview: How to Conjugate Honorific, Humble, and Polite Verbs

References

Footnotes

1. Makino, Seiichi and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times. Entries on imperative (命令形), なさい, な (prohibitive), and てはいけない. https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Basic-Japanese-Grammar/dp/4789004546 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Wikipedia. "Japanese conjugation." Cites a 1991 dialect survey on regional distribution of ろ / よ / い imperatives, and the modern Tokyo standard. (limitation: tertiary). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_conjugation ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Bunpro. "命令形 (JLPT N4)." Grammar reference page; lists conjugation rules, example sentences, and JLPT alignment. https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E5%91%BD%E4%BB%A4%E5%BD%A2 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

4. Tofugu. "Japanese Verb Command Form ろ." Conjugation rules by class including くれる → くれ, register, and habitats (emergency, sports, fiction). https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-command-form-ro/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

5. Frellesvig, Bjarke. A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Old Japanese verb morphology, the six classical 活用形 including 已然形 and 命令形, and the role of interjectional particles yo and ro. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-of-the-japanese-language/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Frellesvig, Bjarke. "Old Japanese Conjugation Classes." University of Oxford / Cornell Japanese Historical Linguistics workshop materials. https://conf.ling.cornell.edu/japanese_historical_linguistics/5%20GRAMMAR%20formation%20and%20katsuyookee.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Tofugu. "Japanese Verb なさい Form." Conjugation off the masu-stem; warnings against use with superiors; examples. https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-imperative-form-nasai/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

8. JP YoKoSo. "Japanese Imperative Form: Commands, Requests, and How to Sound Natural." Sign and slogan habitats (止まれ, 入るな, 押すな), the する → しろ / せよ split, and the 〜よ literary variant in mottos, school rules, military and religious texts. https://jpyokoso.com/japanese-imperative-form/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

9. Practice Japanese. "Imperative Form (Command)." Verb-by-verb godan e-row shift, ichidan ろ, irregular しろ / こい / くれ. https://practice-japanese.com/grammar/verb-imperative/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

10. Conjugaizen. "Japanese Imperative Form (命令形): Commands." Conjugation reference; the same e-row shift underlies potential and conditional forms historically. https://conjugaizen.com/learn/conjugation/imperative-form/ ↩ ↩²

11. Imabi. "The Imperative." Detailed treatment of the historical 文語 origin, the ろ vs よ split, irregular くれる → くれ, honorific verbs giving い-ending imperatives, and the lack of imperative for ある and だ. (limitation: pedagogy site, used only where it aligns with academic claims in ⁵ and ⁶). https://imabi.org/the-imperative/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

12. Tae Kim. "Honorific and Humble Forms." The five ーaru honorific verbs (なさる, くださる, いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, ござる) whose masu-stem and imperative end in -i (なさい, ください, いらっしゃい, おっしゃい, ござい). https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/honorific ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

13. Bunpro. "なさい (JLPT N4)." Grammar reference page; lists conjugation rule (masu-stem + なさい), examples, and notes on the contracted な form. https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%95%E3%81%84 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

14. Tofugu. "〜な For 'Don't…!'" Rules for prohibitive な (dictionary form + な), homograph caution against masu-stem + な, contraction to 〜んな, softening with よ / ってば. https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/na/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

15. Bunpro. "てはいけない (JLPT N5)." Rule-based prohibition with て-form + はいけない, formality scale 〜てはならない (formal) / 〜てはいけない (neutral) / 〜てはだめ (casual). https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF%E3%81%84%E3%81%91%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84 ↩

16. Wasabi. "Advanced Sentence Ending Particles な, なあ, っけ, わ, ぞ, and さ." Sentence-final な after a non-imperative clause as reflective / soft-assertive, with 今日は寒いな example. https://wasabi-jpn.com/magazine/japanese-grammar/advanced-sentence-ending-particles/ ↩ ↩²