JLPT N4 · な-adjective

だめ (dame)

だめ is a Japanese な-adjective meaning “no good; not serving its purpose”. It is usually written in kana. It appears in JLPT N4 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: だめ
Romaji: dame
Word class: な-adjective
Level: JLPT N4 (unofficial)

Meaning

no good; not serving its purpose; useless; broken · な-adjective, noun · usually written in kana
hopeless; wasted; in vain; purposeless · な-adjective, noun · usually written in kana
cannot; must not; not allowed · な-adjective, noun · usually written in kana
neutral point; intersection owned by neither player at the end of a game · noun
no!; stop! · interjection · usually written in kana

Example sentences

去年はジョギングシューズを２足駄目にした。

I wore out two pairs of jogging shoes last year.

Tatoeba #182216

もうだめだ。

It's all over.

Tatoeba #75261

夜遅くまで起きていては駄目だよ。

Don't sit up late at night.

Tatoeba #79682

Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.

Conjugation of だめ

な-adjective. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present (plain)	だめだ	だめだ dameda
Present (polite)	だめです	だめです damedesu
Negative	だめじゃない	だめじゃない damejanai
Past	だめだった	だめだった damedatta
Negative past	だめじゃなかった	だめじゃなかった damejanakatta
Te-form	だめで	だめで damede
Before a noun	だめな	だめな damena
Adverb (~ni)	だめに	だめに dameni

Source: JMdict entry 1409110 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.