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DeepL translates ドアのカギを外してください to either "Remove the key from the door",
"Unlock the door", or "Remove the door lock"

Which one of these is the more common meaning or is the meaning only
solidified with context?
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2021-10-24T22:06:54.793
90879
2021-10-25T05:38:21.593
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question
meaning usage
ドアのカギを外してください meaning
ドアの鍵を外す is natural only when you are dealing with a lock like this:

[![padlock](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Weh39.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Weh39.png)

In this situation, all the three translations DeepL gave would work the same
way, don't they?

The normal translation of "to unlock" is 鍵を開ける. It's used also with electronic
locks that can be opened with IC cards. Most people don't usually have to say
鍵を外す in their daily lives. If they do, it would mean breaking the lock or
uninstalling the locking mechanism from the door entirely.

**EDIT** : 鍵を外す is used also when removing the locked/prviate status, e.g.,
from an SNS account.
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2021-10-25T03:02:11.110
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answer
If I have no context and both 鍵 and ドア are new information to me, I would
understand it as a request to remove a lock from a door.

If I already know from context that no screwdriver is involved, I would
understand it as a request to either:

  1. unlock the door, if the lock is a chain lock, which requires the action that can be described by the verb 外す to unlock

or

  2. remove a key from a lock, if the key is left inserted.

Even when these conditions are satisfied, I would still think the request is
phrased strangely because I would say either 鍵を開けてください or チェーンを外してください for the
first case and 鍵を抜いてください for the second if I were on the requesting side.
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2021-10-25T05:27:30.597
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2021-10-25T05:38:21.593
2021-10-25T05:38:21.593
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answer