Understanding rules and prohibitions
In lesson 49, you asked whether something was allowed. Sometimes the reply is a clear house rule rather than a hesitant answer. Here, a staff member explains the rules of a fictional practice room. You learn to identify the prohibited action, where the rule applies and how the complete verb pattern is built.
What does the rule say?
In our fictional practice room, a staff member says ここで食べてはいけません. This does more than tell you that someone is not eating now. The staff member states that eating is not permitted here. The ending てはいけません turns the action into a prohibition. Listen to the end: 食べて alone does not tell you that purpose.
First practise as a listener: which action is prohibited, and what place is named? Take the statement seriously in that situation. The sentence gives no reason and does not automatically tell you where you may eat instead. A rule about this room is not a rule for every building in Japan.
ここで食べてはいけません。
Keep the complete て form
Build the pattern from the complete て form + は + いけません. You already know 食べる（たべる, group 2）→食べて. Add はいけません: 食べてはいけません. Do not attach the new ending directly to the dictionary form or to 食べます. Here は is pronounced wa; it is not an extra ha sound in the verb.
Some て forms end in で. 飲む（のむ, group 1）becomes 飲んで. Keep that complete form too: 飲んで + はいけません = 飲んではいけません. Do not replace で with て just because the pattern is called the ‘て form’. The same principle applied to 飲んでもいいですか in lesson 49.
For now, learn はいけません as the fixed prohibition ending. Do not interpret the whole expression word by word as ‘cannot go’. This lesson needs no new ない conjugation: choose the familiar て form and add the ending.
ここで飲んではいけません。
この本を見てはいけません。
Taking a photo: 撮る to 撮って
You know 写真（しゃしん）and 撮ります from earlier lessons. Now practise the dictionary form 撮る（とる）, with its group stated: group 1. A group-1 verb ending in る takes って. Therefore 撮る→撮って. The small っ marks the short closure before the t sound: totte, not tote.
The familiar object keeps を: 写真を撮ってはいけません. You combine a familiar phrase with the new form. Do not treat 撮る like 食べる just because both end in る. The stated group determines the change. Return to lesson 48 to review the full group table; here you practise this one new application.
写真を撮ってはいけません。
Prohibition, instruction or permission?
Compare the same action in three situations. 写真を撮ってください asks the listener to take a photograph. In our visitor conversation, 写真を撮ってもいいですか asks whether the speaker may take one. 写真を撮ってはいけません states that photography is not allowed. 写真を and 撮って stay the same; the ending changes the purpose.
With ちょっと… in lesson 49, you inferred a hesitant refusal from the question and reply. はいけません states a clear boundary. This makes it useful for explaining a real rule, but strong when directed at someone. The polite ending ません does not automatically soften the message. Treat our examples as language used by the responsible staff member or teacher in the stated situation.
If you only want to say that you do not take photographs, 写真を撮りません is a statement about your own action. Without further context, it is not a prohibition for everyone else. Choose your purpose and role before choosing the Japanese ending.
写真を撮ってください。
写真を撮ってもいいですか。
写真を撮ってはいけません。
Understand the place and respond
A stated location of an action takes で, as in この部屋で. In our fictional situation, the staff member says この部屋でパンを食べてはいけません. This rule concerns eating bread in this room. It does not say that bread is prohibited everywhere, nor whether drinking is allowed. Do not invent rules that have not been stated.
With はい、わかりました, the visitor shows that they have understood the rule. This reply grants no new permission. If you want to do something else, you can ask separately using the pattern from lesson 49. This connects listening to a suitable next turn rather than merely recognising the word ‘not’.
この部屋でパンを食べてはいけません。
はい、わかりました。