88965
I encountered this command while reading a piece of fiction:

休んでなさい

I learned that the pre-masu form is used with imperatives using なさい. So, I
would have expected 休みなさい. But, here, the て form is used.

Why is the -te form used here? Is there a difference in meaning or nuance
between the -te form and pre-masu form when used with なさい? Is this usage a
specific and irregular form used only with the verb 休む, perhaps due to the
already pre-existing fixed expression おやすみなさい?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-19T02:47:14.580
88964
2021-08-19T02:59:31.313
9153
question
imperatives
Difference between ～てなさい and ～なさい
I don't think this is so much the difference between the two but rather a
combination of the two. Here the て-form is used in the continuous sense,
休んでいる, and the なさい is simply applied to the end. In this case it is telling
the person to _continue_ to rest, instead of to rest from here on. A more
intuitive reading would be like "Just relax. Stay there." This type of
request/command comes up here and there in various Japanese phrases. For
instance いい子にしてろ (heard in a manga once) "don't act up" or commonly 待ってて "wait
there for me." It doesn't carry over to English easily, but once you get the
concept it comes quite intuitively.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-19T02:59:31.313
88965
2021-08-19T02:59:31.313
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88964
answer