～ようにいう: Indirect Imperatives

Introduction

"I told Mike that if he clogs the toilet, he has to unclog it himself! I asked him to do that, I really did. In fact, I begged him!", rants Steve.

Poor Mike. He still hasn't learned how to take responsibility for his actions, or his bowel movements.

Indirect imperatives: I told you (so)

Structure

• 

  dictionary form

  not conjugated; the form of a word as you would find it in a dictionary (e.g. {食|た}べる, おいしい).

  verb/negative, casual form

  the negative form of the casual/plain form, can also be called ない-form (e.g. {食|た}べる → {食|た}べない, {飲|の}む → {飲|の}まない).

  verbように言いう
  Example:
  → もっと食たべるように言いいました。
  "I told them to eat more.”

In the previous lesson, we covered imperatives, which are used to tell someone to do, or not do, something. In this lesson, we'll cover so-called "indirect" imperatives, where no one is being directly ordered around, but there is still some ordering around happening. You'll see what I mean shortly.