Hello there, I was just wondering the grammar breakdown of this point. It is an indication of something you MUST do yet the いけない and いけません to me screams negation or NOT doing something. obviously the pairing with ければ is modifying this somehow to indicate to compulsion to do something but I am just nerding out wondering what that is.
Can someone explain in more depth? I like to understand a little more beyond what my 先生 teaches but don’t wanna overburden others with extraneous info during class. I hope I am explaining well enough.
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ない “is not” becomes なければ “if is not”
いけない or ならない are both “won’t work out”
帰らなければいけない “if I don’t go home it won’t go well” = “I need to go home”
“いけない” is simply an idiom meaning “bad”, it’s literally “can’t go” but it just means “bad” similar to “だめ” but more formal.
“なければ” just means “if not” so say “*食べなければいけない。*” can be seen as “*It’s bad if you don’t eat.*” or “*You must eat*.”
Japanese has many idioms that use conditionals with “good” and “bad” “*食べたらいい。*”, means something like “*You should eat.*” from the literal “*It’s good if you eat.*”; “*食べてもいい。*” means “*You can have it.*” as in “*It’s fine even if you eat it.*”.
These idioms are common enough that in colloquial speech they often omit the second part, such as that “*食べないと*” simply means “*I have to eat.*” even though literally it’s “*If I don’t eat.*” with he bad part omitted. “*食べなきゃ*” also means “*I should eat.*” in a similar way.
I’d definitely recommend Tokini Andy on YouTube. I think it’s Genki 1 chapter 12 that covers this. He has a good way of explaining it in plain English
コーラ飲まない？
Japanese has loads of negatives to mean/suggest positives, sort of. Don’t get hung up on negatives directly.
It’s a double negative.
なければ means “if it isn’t; if one doesn’t.”
いけない・いけません means “it can’t go” or perhaps more naturally, “it won’t do.”
野菜を食べなければいけません。”It certainly won’t do if you don’t eat your vegetables.”
The double negative becomes a positive and an obligation: “You must eat your vegetables.”
This form is more like someone imposing their will or a rule one someone else.
なりません, a similar ending, expresses more of a personal sense of obligation OR obligations enforced by rule, law or custom.
日本の家に入る前にくつをぬがなければなりません。”You must remove your shoes before entering a Japanese house/home.”