Learn JLPT N5 Grammar ちゃいけない・じゃいけない (cha ikenai / ja ikenai)

Learn Japanese grammar: ちゃいけない (cha ikenai) / ちゃダメ (cha dame) / じゃいけない (ja ikenai) / じゃダメ (ja dame) . Meaning: must not; may not; cannot (spoken Japanese).

This grammar is used to say this is something we should not do / may not do.

• Use the verb’s て form, but then remove the て
  • たべる -> たべて -> たべちゃ
  • “taberu” -> “tabete” -> “tabe cha”

• If the て form is で, then ちゃ turns to じゃ
  • のむ -> のんで -> のんじゃ
  • “nomu” -> “nonde” -> “nonja”

3 Main Patterns

There are 3 ways this is commonly used

Pattern 1)

食べちゃ ダメ (tabe cha dame) = You cannot eat this.

See examples 1~3

Pattern 2)

食べちゃいけない (tabe cha ikenai) = same meaning

See examples 4~6

Pattern 3)

食べちゃいけません (tabe cha ikemasen) = same, but more formal

See examples 7~9

This is the more casual / spoken version of てはいけない (te wa ikenai)

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