Requests and orders: 〜てください, 〜て, 〜てくれ, 〜なさい, 〜ろ

How Japanese speakers really ask and tell people to do things, from polite てください down to the bare command ろ, and who you can say each one to.

Ukeru notes · counts are from the current library (1,905 routines, 174,812 machine-transcribed lines) and update as it grows

One textbook form, five real ones

Textbooks usually teach one way to ask someone to do something: the て-form plus ください, as in 待ってください, "please wait". It is a good, safe form. But in real conversation, and constantly in comedy, people slide up and down a whole ladder: from 待ってください to plain 待って, to the rougher 待ってくれ, the scolding 待ちなさい and the blunt command 待て. Each step changes how close, how bossy or how annoyed the speaker sounds.

The counts below come from machine-made transcripts of the 1,905 routines in our library, so read them as rough guides rather than exact figures.

〜てください: the polite default

てください is still the workhorse. It appears on 1,766 lines in our library, from 222 of the 283 comedians, more than any other form we can count here. Some simple examples:

• ちょっと待ってください (please wait a moment)
• 教えてください (please tell me)
• 寝ないでください (please don't fall asleep)

The last one shows the negative: ないで + ください, "please don't". On stage, てください is natural whenever a character is a clerk, a customer, a patient or anyone talking to a stranger, and it often survives even when the speaker is clearly losing patience. A polite form said through gritted teeth is its own kind of joke.

Plain 〜て: the everyday request

Drop ください and you get the bare て-form request: 待って, 見て, やめて. This is how friends, family and partners ask each other for things all day. It is not rude; it is casual. The tone does the rest. A soft 見て is "look!", a sharp やめて！ is "stop it!".

Our data pack has no reliable count for this one, because a line ending in て is often just an unfinished sentence rather than a request. But you will recognize it everywhere, especially in two set phrases: ちょっと待って ("wait, hold on") and やめて／やめろ ("stop it!").

The negative works the same way: 言わないで, "don't say it". Add よ or ね to soften or press: 待ってよ！ ("wait up!"), 見てね ("make sure you look, okay?").

〜てくれ: rough and direct

くれ is the plain command form of くれる, "to do (for me)". So 待ってくれ is literally "wait (for me)!" It sounds firmer and rougher than 待って, and it is traditionally associated with male speakers, though you will hear it from anyone in a dramatic moment. Simple examples:

• 聞いてくれ (listen to me)
• 考え直してくれ (think it over again)
• 何かやってくれよ (come on, do something)

In our library, てくれ appears on 924 lines. Treat that number with extra care: the pattern also catches くれて, as in 払ってくれてありがとう ("thanks for paying"), which is gratitude, not a request.

When a speaker wants to sound less bossy, they turn the order into a question: 待ってくれない？ or, at speaking speed, 待ってくんない？, "could you wait?". That softer, casual favor is covered on 〜てくんない？. In polite speech the same move gives 待ってくれませんか.

〜なさい: the parent and teacher form

なさい attaches to the verb stem: 食べなさい, 早く寝なさい, やめなさい. It is the voice of a parent, teacher or someone speaking from above, firm but not crude. Think "eat your dinner", "go to bed", "stop that this instant". Some simple examples:

• 宿題しなさい (do your homework)
• ちゃんと座りなさい (sit properly)
• 静かにしなさい (be quiet)

In comedy you hear it when a character is playing a mother, a teacher or a scolding older figure, often with よ on the end: 着なさいよ！.

Do not read too much into the raw count of 712 lines. A large share of them are ごめんなさい ("I'm sorry"), and others are polite どうなさいましたか ("what seems to be the matter?"). Historically, ごめんなさい does contain the same なさい, but nobody hears it as an order today. For apologies, see the note on すみません and ごめん.

〜ろ and 〜え: the bare command

The plain imperative is the most direct form there is:

Verbs like 食べる take ろ; verbs like 待つ swap the last sound to the え-row (待て, 行け, 言え). する and 来る are irregular. There is also a casual 〜てろ, short for 〜ていろ: 待ってろ, "stay here and wait".

In our library, lines ending in a ろ command appear 242 times, from 110 comedians. That pattern only catches lines that end on the ろ, and it misses common commands such as しろ and 見ろ as well as え-row forms like 待て, so the real number is higher. In these counts, てください lines outnumber them by about 7 to 1; the true gap is smaller than that, but it is still a fair hint that polite requests are the everyday business of conversation.

On stage, the classic use is a quick, exasperated やめろ！ or おいやめろ when a partner goes too far. The pattern also catches a few lines that are wishes or curses rather than orders, like 壊れろ ("break, already!"), which is the same form used on a thing instead of a person. The "don't" version is 〜な: するな, 寝るな, and in rough speech するな often becomes すんな; see 〜すんな.

Using them yourself

• てください: safe with almost anyone. Strangers, shop staff, coworkers, teachers. For a boss or a customer, step up to 〜ていただけますか.
• plain て: friends, family, partners, people your age you know well. Fine and friendly; just not for someone you should be polite to.
• てくれ: close friends, and mostly in strong moments. It can sound bossy or theatrical. The question form てくれない？／てくんない？ is the friendlier choice for everyday favors.
• なさい: only from a clear position above, like a parent to a child or a teacher to a pupil. Said to an adult equal, it sounds condescending, which is exactly why it gets laughs on stage.
• ろ／え: avoid it in your own speech unless you are joking with very close friends, shouting a warning (逃げろ！, "run!") or reading lines aloud. It is common in manga, sports and comedy, but from a learner it usually lands as rude.

When in doubt, use てください with strangers and plain て with friends. Those two cover almost everything.

Try it

• Search the library for てください, てくれよ, なさい and やめろ, and for each line ask: who is talking to whom, and how bossy are they being?
• Take one verb, such as 待つ, and say it at every step of the ladder: 待ってください, 待って, 待ってくれ, 待ちなさい, 待て. Then watch the scenes on ちょっと待って and やめて／やめろ and copy the tone.