読め・
Commands and prohibitions by strength and setting
Choose a directive by asking three things: are you telling someone to act or not to act, do you have a clear reason to control that person’s action, and is the setting conversational, instructional, formal, or deliberately literary? These forms are not simply rungs on one politeness ladder. A polite ending can still impose a firm rule, while an old-fashioned form may sound measured without being respectful.
When you want the listener to act
The four positive choices differ mainly in force, relationship, and persona.
Blunt direct command
The imperative, such as 読め
Immediate action matters, strong authority is accepted, or force is conventional in coaching, cheers, slogans, and written directives.
In ordinary face-to-face interaction, it can sound angry or domineering.
Softened authoritative instruction
Verb stem plus なさい
A parent, caregiver, teacher, or written test gives a clear higher-to-lower instruction.
Softer than a bare imperative does not mean suitable for a superior, customer, or equal.
Guided encouragement to try
Verb in the て-form plus ごらん
A familiar senior, teacher, or caregiver prompts someone to try an action and discover the result.
A sharp tone can turn warm guidance into a dare.
Old-fashioned superior command
Verb stem plus たまえ
Fiction, drama, parody, or another stylized setting deliberately gives the speaker an old-fashioned superior persona.
It is mainly a recognition form and is not a modern polite request.
The same action under four relationships
Someone tells another person to read part of a document; the relationship and genre change the natural form.
下の注釈も読んでごらん。
Try reading the note below too.
AnalyzeThe teacher guides the learner toward a useful clue.
君、この序文を読みたまえ。
You there, read this preface.
AnalyzeThis sounds like a senior professor or official in deliberately old-fashioned fiction.
Takeaway: The forms do more than change bluntness. They cast the speaker as an urgent commander, an everyday authority figure, a familiar guide, or an old-fashioned superior.
When you want the action not to happen
First decide whether you are stating a rule, issuing a direct negative command, or writing in a deliberately elevated style.
Ordinary rule or warning
Verb in the て-form plus はいけない
Stating an everyday rule, safety warning, or situation-specific ban in speech or general writing.
A polite final ending remains firm because the sentence still declares the action impermissible.
Blunt negative command
Dictionary-form verb plus な
Danger, strict authority, strong emotion, coaching, or dramatic dialogue justifies a short direct order.
Use the dictionary form, not the negative form.
Casual spoken rule
ちゃいけない・じゃいけない
Expressing the ordinary prohibition naturally in familiar conversation.
Keep the ending that expresses the prohibition; the contraction by itself can belong to a different pattern.
Formal modern rule
てはならない
A regulation, institution, public principle, or serious formal statement presents the ban as authoritative and impersonal.
It is usually too formal for a simple personal request.
Severe literary injunction
べからず at the end, or べからざる before a noun
A maxim, warning, slogan, quotation, or archaizing statement needs severe literary force.
This is not the normal modern form for everyday notices.
Literary condemnation before a noun
Verb plus まじき before an evaluative noun
Formal rhetoric condemns an act, mistake, event, or statement as something never to be allowed or repeated.
Treat it mainly as a recognition form used in established combinations, not as a freely productive modern ending.
Condemnation against a role standard
Role or institution noun plus にあるまじき plus a noun
Conduct is condemned as fundamentally unworthy of a named profession, office, status, or institution.
Its rhetorical force is disproportionate for minor everyday mistakes.
One forbidden action in four settings
Entering a restricted room is forbidden, but the speaker, audience, and medium change the natural expression.
この部屋に入ってはいけません。
You must not enter this room.
AnalyzeThis is an ordinary polite rule addressed to visitors.
危険だ！中に入るな！
It is dangerous! Do not go inside!
AnalyzeImmediate danger makes the blunt command appropriate.
そこは物置だから、入っちゃいけないよ。
That is a storage room, so you must not go in.
AnalyzeThis fits a familiar spoken warning to a child or family member.
許可なく保管室に入ってはならない。
No one may enter the storage room without permission.
AnalyzeThis reads as an institutional regulation rather than a personal warning.
Takeaway: The ordinary and contracted forms state a practical ban, the short negative command directly controls the listener, and the formal form presents the restriction as an authoritative standard.
A ban is not always a shouted command
てはいけない says that an action is not permitted. Dictionary-form verb plus な directly orders the listener not to act. The first therefore works across ordinary rules and warnings; the second needs urgency, authority, strong emotion, or deliberate dramatic force.
Recognizing the literary end of the scale
A writer uses elevated language to forbid or condemn serious conduct.
聖域の門を開けるべからず。
The gate to the sanctuary must not be opened.
AnalyzeThe sentence-final form creates a severe, inscription-like injunction.
証拠を隠すとは、決して許すまじき行為である。
Concealing evidence is an utterly unforgivable act.
AnalyzeThe form modifies an evaluative noun and strongly condemns the act.
市民を欺くとは、市長にあるまじき行為だ。
Deceiving the public is conduct unbecoming a mayor.
AnalyzeThe mayoral role supplies the standard that the conduct violates.
Takeaway: べからず directly delivers a literary ban. まじき and あるまじき more often condemn what a following noun describes. These forms are chiefly for recognition unless a deliberately rhetorical style is intended.
More examples across the family
危ない、足元を見ろ！
Watch out—look where you are stepping!
Analyze今すぐ部屋を片づけなさい。
Tidy your room right now.
AnalyzeThis suits a parent giving a firm instruction to a child.
この鍵をゆっくり回してごらん。
Try turning this key slowly.
Analyzeさあ、君の理由を話したまえ。
Now then, state your reasons.
AnalyzeThis is appropriate as stylized speech from a senior figure in fiction.
ここに自転車を止めてはいけません。
Bicycles must not be parked here.
Analyzeその箱を開けるな！中に危険物がある。
Do not open that box! There is hazardous material inside.
Analyzeそんなに急いじゃいけないよ。
You must not rush so much.
Analyze会員の情報を外部に送ってはならない。
Members’ information must not be sent outside the organization.
Analyze夜明け前に鐘を鳴らすべからず。
The bell must not be rung before dawn.
Analyze弱い立場の人を利用するとは、許すまじき行為だ。
Exploiting vulnerable people is an unforgivable act.
Analyze生徒を侮辱するとは、教師にあるまじき態度だ。
Insulting a student is conduct unbecoming a teacher.
Analyze