How many verb endings to express "do this (please)"?

Question

I'm familiar with the て and てください forms of a verb to give a command/request and request, respectively. However, I've run across these other forms and really don't know which to use in what situation. I'll just list all the ones I've run across. - 止めて下さい 　　　 - 止めてくれ - 止めて 　　　 - 止めなさい - 止めとけ - 止めろ I believe the first is the most polite and last is the most rude. The others in the middle are a guess. However, when and where to use these forms are a mystery to me. Note: I'm focused on the endings not the verb itself. Also, if I've missed any, please feel free to add to my list.

Answer 1

Hi! That's a great question!

Let's break down the formality and nuances of each old those and then I'll add a couple others.

-て下さい  would be very formal and the most standard out of all of those listed however, we can take it step further and make it て下さいませ (very formal), or a more common て下さいませんか, which carries more of a "could you please" meaning.

-てくれ ,as I'm sure you are aware, is just a colloquial form of the same verb conjugation, and can be a little rude depending.

-なさい can almost be thought of as patronizing. Like a mother speaking to their child. Granted, this phrase isn't exclusive to parent-child interactions, but that's the tone it takes on. And like the form above, this one can also be hyper-formalized with ませ at the end.

-(止め)とけ is a colloquial form of -ておく, which means "do it for now", "do it and leave it (lit.)", "just do it". And it is often put into the form -ておいて. The とけ is colloquial ておいて.

-(止め)ろ is a very colloquial form of -ましょう, and is used most often with the word that you gave as example . It's like saying "let's", but in a more aggressive way. Think, "Hey! Let's knock it off!".

I hope that you found this helpful!

-Faith

~Never stop learning~