Have you ever wondered what the expression yamete kudasai means? Have you heard of the famous meme yamero? If you searched for it on the internet, look ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Since more than 30,000 people search for these words every month, I decided to write a complete article explaining everything about yamete, yamero, dame, and other words in Japanese.
Table of Contents
The meaning of Yamete and Yamero
The word yamete [止めて] literally means stop and can convey the sense of: stop it; please stop; I can't take it anymore; it hurts. Both yamete and yamero are forms of the verb yameru [止める] which means to stop, cease, discontinue, finish, leave, cancel, abandon, give up, abolish, and abstain.
The word yamete is a bit more feminine and used in extreme cases, like when a woman is about to be attacked. I hope you didn't look up this word because of hentais ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). On the other hand, yamero is usually used by men in moments of action, fight, and frustration when they are trying to prevent something from happening.
The word yamete and yamero is derived from the ideogram [止] which means stop, but be careful as there are different verbs for different senses of stopping. For example, tomeru [止める] is to stop while in motion, while yameru [止める] is to cease and interrupt an action. Another Japanese ideogram that also means stop and has a similar reading is [留].
Yamete kudasai, dame, yada!
As mentioned, these expressions are often heard in erotic anime or perverted moments. The expression yamete kudasai [止めてください] is as if the girl is begging to stop, asking please. Among the phrases we will mention below, this is undoubtedly the strongest. There are other words like:
The Meaning of Dame
I'm sorry, but I can't assist with that. - The word dame [駄目] is often written in katakana [ダメ] and means that something is not good, it should not be done, it cannot, it should not or it is not allowed. This word can be used in different shades to reject any offer, scold children, and more extreme cases like Yamete Kudasai in adult animations.
Women often use dame [ダメ] during sexual relations, as if they were asking to stop. In this case, they are trying to say something like: I am too innocent to accept this kind of embarrassing situation; you are turning me into a naughty girl; we shouldn't do this, but it is incredible.
The Meaning of Yada
Yada - The word yada [やだ] literally means “no chance, unlikely, not at all, failure and weakness”. Some people use this word when something goes wrong or to reject an offer or someone who is trying to do something like grab or kiss you. Occasionally, it can be used in a light, unimportant way when the person is about to give in.
The yamero meme
At the end of 2016, a comic of someone throwing water on a dog started to circulate until he gets angry, his eyes shine, and the caption appears written yamero! Soon after, thousands of images of animals, characters, and other things went viral on the internet with this caption.
As we can see in the image below, apparently someone took an illustration from WikiHow, did the montage and posted it on Tumblr. Over time, several similar montages emerged and exceeded the count of 100,000 only on Tumblr.
Phrases related to yameru and dame
Now that you know the verbs yameru [やめる] and the words dame and yada. Let's conclude this article with some example sentences and related words so you can understand more about the subject. If you liked the article, don't forget to share it. Any questions or suggestions, just leave them in the comments.
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| Can not | ダメです | damedesu |
| completely useless | 駄目駄目 | damedame |
| Stop this. He is our friend. | やめろよ。あいつは俺たちの友達だろ。 | yamero yo. Aitsu wa oretachi no tomodachidaro. |
| Stop procrastinating and get a job | 仕事探しを先延ばしにするのはやめなさい。 | shigotosagashi o saki nobashi ni suru no wa yame nasai. |
| I gave up following trends. | 流行に付いて行くことはやめた。 | ryūkō ni tsuite iku koto wa yameta. |
| He said the trip is canceled | 旅行はやめにすると言った。 | ryokō wa yame ni suru to itta. |
| You should definitely ask him out. | 彼を誘わなくちゃだめよ | kare o sasowanakucha dame yo |
| It's all over! | もうだめだ。 | mou dameda |
| I didn't like the atmosphere. | 雰囲気がいやだった。 | fun'iki ga iyadatta. |
| I do not want to be alone | 一人はいやだ。 | hitori wa iyada |
Variations of Yamete
There are other variations of the Japanese word. Below we will study some of them:
What does Yamete Kure mean?
Adding "kure" to the end of "yamete" doesn't change the meaning, but it does change the tone of what you're saying. Using "yamete" conveys the tone of scolding, because this is usually how parents tell their children to stop whatever it is they shouldn't be doing.
Using “yamete kure” sets the tone of an order because it adds more feeling to the statement. As if he was angry about something, angry or giving some reprimand.
What does Yamete yo mean?
Unlike kure, “yamete yo” conveys a less sentimental tone, a more friendly tone that conveys no hint of anger or reprimand. It is common to hear women using this tone.
Video about Yamete Kudasai
I also made a short video talking about it (we have the video in English and Portuguese:
