Vな

Vna

Common uses

• Prohibition
• Imperative

Grammar elements

• Vな

Like standard Japanese, Vな is also used in Kansai-ben for strong prohibition. However, instead of the dictionary form^? as in standard Japanese, the stem^? form is used.

Kansai-ben vs. Standard

Standard	V? (dictionary form?) な
Kansai-ben	V (stem?) な

Formation

u-verbs and ru-verbs that have stem? with two or more characters	V? (stem)
ru-verbs that have single character stem and irregular verbs	V (stem) with the final vowel extended

Examples

With u-verbs and ru-verbs that have stem^? with two or more characters.

Standard	寝るな	するな	くるな
Kansai-ben	寝ぇな	しぃな	きぃな

With ru-verbs that have single character stem^? and irregular verbs.

Standard	行くな	食べるな
Kansai-ben	行きな	食べ な

Commentary

Final るand Vんな

In the verbs that end with る, that final る often changes into ん.

Standard	食べるな	寝るな
Kansai-ben	食べんな	寝んな
Kansai-ben (basic form)	食べな	寝ぇな

Vんな

Standard	こんなところで寝るなよ。
Kansai-ben	こんなとこで寝んなや。
English	You can't sleep here.

The function of Vな can depend on the accent

Vな can have different function depending on the accent.

Vな with a downstep^? = negative imperative (prohibition)
Vな without a downstep = affirmative imperative (giving advice)

	(LHL) 飲みな	(LLL) 飲みな
Standard	もう、さけ飲むなよ。	あついからゆっくり飲むんだよ。
Kansai-ben	もう、さけ飲みなや。 [↓]	あついからゆっくり飲みな。 [↓]
English	You shouldn't drink anymore.	It's hot so drink it slowly.

L = low pitch^?
H = high pitch

Other phrases of prohibition: Vたらあかん and Vんとき

Besides Vな, there are other phrases for prohibition such as Vたらあかん and Vんとき. The differences between these three are in the degree of prohibition.

Standard	Kansai-ben	English
Vな	Vな	Don't V?
Vたらだめ	Vたらあかん	You shouldn't...
V しないで from shinaide okinasai	Vんとき	Don't V [fairly low key]

Vんとき

Standard	明日、二日よいになるから、もう飲まないで。
Kansai-ben	明日、二日よいになるよって、もう飲まんとき。
English	If you don't stop drinking you'll have a hangover tomorrow.