grammar

〜ないで ください

• asking someone not to do something

  • negative te form of verb +

  • くれ (used only by male speakers informally)
    ください
    くださいませんか

• どうぞ遠慮（えんりょ）しないでください！

〜ほうがいい

• offer advice or make strong suggestion

  • ta-form of verb OR nonpast, negative form of verb + ほうがいい（です）

  • saying "it's better to …."

ところ

• to be about to do something

  • infinitive form (る) ところ だ/です

• to be in the process of doing something

  • te form + いる + ところ だ/です

  • similar to ている, but ところ is more in the moment

しか。。。ない / だけ

• when to use だけ vs しか + negative

  • だけ implies that out of a certain amount that they could have had or done, they only did so much, but that whatever they did was sufficient

  • しかない is more like i only did this thing and it wasn't enough! i only have five dollars, not enough, vs. i have just five dollars, just enough to do this thing

〜ておく

• to do something in advance/in preparation for something else or future use

  • te-form of verb + おく

  • in colloquial / casual speech, ておく is sometimes shortened to とく or どく