don’t
Structure
- Verb + な
[strong demand/order not to do something]
Is this commonly used?
Tae Kim’s guide says this in The command form section:
We will go over the command form in the interest of covering all the possible verb conjugations. In reality, the command form is rarely used as Japanese people tend to be too polite to use imperatives.
Does that also apply to the negative command?
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Hey and welcome on community forums! 
Like Tae Kim says, Japanese people are polite, command forms are mostly used in inner circles of friends, in parent-child situations, and emotional/ emergency situations.
In general ないで(ください) is the default one.
Cheers,
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I sometimes see な in various kinds of drawn out forms (なあ・なー・なぁ). Does this change change anything, or add a kind of “feeling” to the prohibition or when asking for confirmation?
Hi
If you see なあor なぁ, it is almost always a colloquial replacement for ね or よ. Further to this, な on its own is also used as a replacement for ね or よ very often. Like with so much in Japanese, it’s about reading the context as well as the words themselves.
For example, if my friend texts me and says 今晩ゆっくりするな, depending on the situation, it could mean “tonight I’m going to relax” or “don’t relax tonight!” Obviously I would know which it was depending on the context of the conversation with my friend.
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Can someone break down this sentence?
勝手に宣伝してるな？
“Do you advertise without permission?” (according to Google)
宣伝してる is casual speak, present progressive, so “[you are] advertising”.
な when used with plain form in a statement is “don’t!”.
But how do you put this together? How do you translate negative command with question with present progressive?
How would this be different without な?
勝手に宣伝してる？
(Context: This is from a translation of Ralph Breaks the Internet when the stormtrooper sees Vanellope and says “Do you have a permit for that pop-up? That’s unauthorized clickbait!”)
@FredKore Hey! This な is different from the grammar point associated with this thread. The な in
is closer to ね, which is used to seek the listener’s agreement/confirmation or express something after consideration.
So, the sentence is closer to “You are advertising without permission, aren’t you(?)/right?”
Hope this helps! Cheers!
Is the answer ここから、写真しゃしんを とってはいけない ungrammatical? I get “wrong answer”, but in case it is not ungrammatical a hint that this is not the right grammar point might be more helpful.
Hey! I’m back with more questions. Based on the example sentence it seems that this can only be used with verbs in their dictionary form. I am correct with making that assumption. I’m assuming there will grammar later to cover more imperatives but I just want to be sure.
That’s correct. The negative imperative is (plain verb)-な.
The positive imperative is either (う-verb, え-ending) or (る-verb stem + ろ).
まつな！ Don’t wait!
まて！ Wait!
たべるな！ Don’t eat!
たべろ！ Eat!
(I can’t seem to find the Bunpro page for positive imperative though.)
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