みなさんこんにちは！Let’s learn Japanese from an anime phrase! Today’s phrase is again from Demon Slayer [鬼滅の刃（Kimetsu No Yaiba）], and we will once again learn from a phrase by our beloved Flame Hashira, 煉獄杏寿郎 (Rengoku Kyōjurō). The phrase we will focus today is this one.
Today’s phrase (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
限界を超えろ。 genkai o koero Go beyond your limits.
This is Rengoku’s last words to Tanjiro, and I am sure this scene had many people in tears. This is one of my favourite phrases from the movie along with “Set your heart ablaze” (you can read a breakdown of this phrase in the previous blog post).
Vocabulary
Firstly, we will look at the individual words in this phrase.
限界（げんかい）: Limites (noun) を : Direct object particle 超（こ）えろ: Go beyond, exceed
「を」here is a particle that marks the direct object (限界) of the sentence. Additionally, 超えろ is the imperative form of 超えます・超える (to go beyond, to exceed).
How do I make the imperative form?
Verbs in the imperative form expresses commands, orders, and demands. Hence, people sometimes call it the command form. As you would guess, this form is not very polite to use, so you have to be careful. There is softer versions of this form such as [Verb stem]なさい or [て form]ください. However, you need the imperative form when you ‘tell’ people what to do, rather than ‘ask’ what you want them to do.
Normally, if you are learning Japanese, chances are you start learning the polite form of the verbs. This is the form where all the ending is ます. Here, I will explain how to change these ます-ending verbs to the imperative form.
3 Verb groups in Japanese
Firstly, you will have to know how to classify verbs into groups. There are 3 different verb groups in Japanese, namely, Godan verbs, Ichidan verbs and Irregular verbs. The trick is that you look at the hiragana character right before the ます.
Godan Verbs
Firstly, you have to look at the hiragana character sitting before ます, and if that is an ‘い’ sounding hiragana character, that is to say, a hiragana character in the い row such as き、し、ち、に etc, then that verb falls into this group. Examples of Godan verbs include 買(か)います [to meet]、座（すわ）ります[to sit down]、聞（き）きます[to hear/listen]、泳(およ)ぎます[to swim]、死(し)にます[to die]、喜（よろこ）びます[to be pleased]、休(やす)みます[to rest] and the list goes on. Secondly, you remove the ます part of the verb. Finally, swap the remaining hiragana to the ‘え’ sounding character from the same hiragana line. For instance, remove the ます from 泳ぎます, and you get 泳ぎ. Then, you change ぎ to げ. Similarly, 死にます turns to 死ね. To clarify, the imperative form of the above examples will be
買います→買え 座ります→座れ 聞きます→聞け 泳ぎます→泳げ 死にます→死ね 喜びます→喜べ 休みます→休め
Ichidan Verbs
While Godan verbs has an ‘い’ sounding character before the ます, some verbs have an ‘え’ sounding hiragana instead. These are Ichidan Verbs. To change Ichidan verbs to the imperative form is relatively easy. Firstly, you remove the ます and then add ろ and that’s it. Examples include…
食(た)べます→食べろ 開(あ)けます→開けろ
Irregular Verbs
Finally, these are the verbs you simply have to memorise.
します→しろ 来(き)ます→来(こ)い
You will have to be careful with the pronunciation of the second one. While the same kanji character 来 is used, it’s pronounced as kimasu in the ます form and koi in the imperative form.
Imperative form of the Rengoku’s phrase
So, coming back to this Rengoku’s phrase
限界を超えろ。 genkai o koero Go beyond your limits.
The ます form of the imperative form 超えろ is 超えます. The を particle tells us that the direct object of the sentence is 限界. Therefore, the translation of this phrase is ‘Go beyond your limits’ or ‘Go beyond the limit’.
Summary – まとめ
In conclusion, this blog post explained how to make the imperative form using the Rengoku’s phrase as an example. To sum up, firstly, you have to be able to classify verbs into appropriate groups. Secondly, you have to apply the conjugation patterns to change the ます form verbs to the imperative form. Anime characters use a lot of this, so hopefully this blog post will help you to pick them up next time you watch anime!
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