Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry1234
Yes, I misspelled. It is いけません.
A full sentence example from my study materials would be:
ここでまっすぐいっっては いけません まがらなけれ ば いけません
My translation begins: "you cannot go straight here."
But, after the word "turn" (まがら）, I don't understand the use of the phrase: ...なければ いけません.
I know the sentence tells the person to turn. If it read: まがらなければ いけます, then it would make sense to me. But, in using いけません, it seems that the sentence says "you must not turn," when I know it should be saying "you must turn."
The use of this phrase is coming up a lot in my materials, and it seems that its using a negative to describe a positive action, which is thoroughly confusing me.
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You should not think about it that way! This is a set phrase with a fix meaning! I mean, even if it seems to be negative, in fact it expresses obligation and not prohibition! it is just like なければ なりません, meaning 'must'. Negative verbs in Japanese change their meanings (or to be more precise, their English translation) into positive in such expressions. So you should not look at that phrase as if it was a combination of 2 words! Just memorize the meaning as if it was a single word! You should get used to such expressions because they are rly essential
