Permission and Prohibition in Japanese

Navigating Rules and Permissions

When interacting in Japanese society—whether at school, work, or in public spaces—understanding what you can, cannot, and must do is essential.

Japanese uses a set of specific grammar patterns to express permission, prohibition, obligation, and lack of necessity. Most of these patterns are built upon the te-form or the negative form of verbs. If you are not yet comfortable with basic verb conjugations, it is highly recommended to review the guide on how to Connect ideas with the て-Form first.

Expressing Permission

To say that someone is allowed to do something, or to ask for permission yourself, you use the pattern [て-Form + ].

Literally, this translates to "even if you do..., it is good/okay."

• (verb te-form)
• (even if / also)
• (good / okay)

To form this, simply conjugate the verb into the te-form and add . To make it polite, you add to the end, resulting in . See Introduction to Japanese Tenses for more details on adjusting politeness levels.

When asking for permission, you turn the sentence into a question by adding the particle .

Expressing a Lack of Necessity

If you want to say "you do not have to" or "there is no need to," you use the pattern .

This is the opposite of the previous pattern. Instead of saying "even if you do, it is okay," you are saying "even if you do not do it, it is okay."

To create this form, you start with the negative form (the nai-form) of a verb, drop the final , and add followed by .

Expressing Prohibition

To explicitly state that something is forbidden or must not be done, you use the pattern .

Literally, this means "if you do..., it cannot go (well)."

• (verb te-form)
• (topic particle, written as は but pronounced "wa")
• (cannot go / bad / won't do)

You will frequently see the polite version, , on signs or in official instructions. In casual spoken Japanese, people often use instead, which carries a similar meaning of "doing this is bad/prohibited."

Note: In casual speech, often contracts into (or for verbs ending in で). So becomes .

Expressing Obligation

Expressing "must" or "have to" in Japanese involves a double negative. The most common pattern is .

Literally, this translates to "If you do not do it, it will not become (good)."

• (if you don't do)
• (it will not become / it won't do)

To form this, take the negative form (nai-form), drop the final , and add . The polite form is .

Because this pattern is quite long, spoken Japanese has many variations and abbreviations. You will often hear:

• (If you don't do, it cannot go)
• (Casual contraction of なければ)
• (Casual contraction of なくては)

Conjugation Summary

Here is how a single verb looks across all four patterns.

Study Tips

Because Japanese uses double negatives to express obligations, sentences like can feel like a mouthful at first. Do not worry about producing these perfectly in conversation right away. Focus instead on recognizing the underlying logic: "if not done -> bad".

Also, pay attention to the difference between giving permission ("you may do this") and letting someone do something ("I will let you do this"). If you want to express making or letting someone perform an action, you will need to use the causative form. See the guide on Making and Letting with the Causative Form to learn how those expressions differ from simply stating rules and permissions.

Get comfortable with the casual contractions like and by listening to everyday conversations or anime. Over time, the lengthier polite forms and their snappy casual equivalents will naturally click into place.