What does “おやめなさい” mean in Japanese?
98歳つや子とシャウエッセンの出会い
B1 Japanese listening practice · Standard Japanese · Curated for intermediate learners
Take a verb’s stem and add なさい, and you get a command that sounds firm but caring: 食べなさい (“eat up”), 寝なさい (“go to sleep”). Put お in front and it softens further: やめなさい becomes おやめなさい, “now, stop that.” It’s the voice of a parent, a teacher, or an elderly woman, and it’s rarely heard from young people or in casual talk with friends.
なさい comes from the honorific verb なさる, which is why it feels polite and bossy at the same time. It attaches to the ます-stem (する becomes しなさい, 来る becomes 来なさい). In this clip, a 98-year-old woman speaks to her younger self and tells her もう泣くのはおやめなさい, “you can stop crying now.” The command is a comfort, not a scolding, and that is the range this ending has.