Permission, rules, and advice in Japanese

Level A2

Permission, rules, and advice in Japanese

Learn how to ask and grant permission, say what someone must not do, give advice, and describe what might happen. Japanese uses different sentence endings and verb forms for these meanings. The examples also show polite and informal speech, and distinguish a prohibition from something that is not required.

Expressions for permission, rules, advice, and possibility

Ask permission with てもいい

Add もいい to the verb’s て-form to ask permission. 読んでもいい？ is informal and uses rising intonation; 開いてもいいですか？ is polite and adds ですか. Japanese does not need an auxiliary like English “can” or subject–auxiliary inversion, and the subject is often omitted.

動詞のて形もいい疑問の文末表現？

Grant permission

もちろん、いいよ。 grants permission in informal conversation. よ adds assurance here; it is not itself an informal marker and can also follow polite forms. A polite equivalent is もちろん、いいですよ。

いい文末表現。

Say what someone must not do with てはいけない

Use the verb’s て-form followed by はいけない to prohibit an action. 食べてはいけません is polite; 開いてはいけないよ uses the plain form and is informal. These express a rule or prohibition, rather than inability.

動詞のて形はいけない文末表現。

Give advice with ほうがいい

For advice to do something, use the verb’s た-form + ほうがいい. 待ったほうがいい means “you should wait”; the た-form does not place the advice in the past. For advice against an action, use the ない-form + ほうがいい, as in 働かないほうがいい. Adding です makes the expression polite; the example ending in いいよ is informal.

動詞のた形・ない形ほうがいい文末表現。

Talk about possibilities with かもしれない

Add かもしれない to a plain verb form to express uncertainty. 食べるかもしれない means “might eat,” while 仕事をしないかもしれない means “might not work.” Both examples use plain, informal endings; the polite ending is かもしれません. 明日 supplies the future time reference without a separate future-tense form.

動詞の普通形かもしれない。

Distinguish a prohibition from no requirement

てはいけない prohibits an action, as in “ここで食べてはいけません。” It does not mean that an action is merely unnecessary. For an obligation, use ないといけない: “ここで待たないといけない。” For no obligation, use なくてもいい: “明日は働かなくてもいい。” English speakers should keep “must not” separate from “don’t have to,” just as these Japanese forms do. The examples use polite endings such as です and ません for formal situations, and informal endings such as いいよ for casual situations. ほうがいい gives advice, while かもしれない expresses possibility, as in “明日はここで食べるかもしれない。”

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