ないでください details
write + not + please don't do
kakanai de kudasai
please don't do
meaning: please don't write
ペンキがまだ乾いていないので、ベンチに座らないでください。
penki ga mada kawaite inai node, benchi ni suwaranai de kudasai.
The paint isn't dry yet, so please don't sit on the bench. neutral
あ、それ、まだ開けないで！
a, sore, mada akenaide!
Ah, don't open that yet! casual
- colloquial
- formal
Examples
please don't do — negative request or prohibition-as-request
ペンキがまだ乾いていないので、ベンチに座らないでください。
penki ga mada kawaite inai node, benchi ni suwaranaidekudasai.
The paint isn't dry yet, so please don't sit on the bench. neutral
あ、それ、まだ開けないで！
a, sore, mada akenaide!
Ah, don't open that yet! casual
ここに自転車を止めないでください。
koko ni jitensha o tomenaide kudasai.
Please don't park bicycles here. neutral
お座席を離れる際は、貴重品を置いたままにしないでください。
o zaseki o hanareru sai wa, kichouhin o oita mama ni shinaide kudasai.
When leaving your seat, please do not leave valuables behind. formal
Formation
{V-nai}でくださいattaches to ない-form
Variant notes
- ないで — ください dropped in casual speech — 押[お]さないで！
- ないでいただけませんか — humble-receive question replaces the imperative when asking upward
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
Both stop the listener — てはいけない states the ban as a rule; ないでください delivers it as a polite request, which is why public signage prefers ないでください as its outward face.
Opposite
- てくださいplain-antonym
Polarity twins of one request frame — てください asks the listener to act, ないでください to refrain; the negative joins with で, never て (×なくてください), which is the frame's one formation trap.
Lookalikes
ないでください is ないで plus the imperative ください — mid-sentence ないで is the adverbial "without doing"; sentence-finally both do request duty, and casual speech drops ください entirely, collapsing the pair.