448 - をくださいませんか

JLPT N5: ~をくださいませんか

If you haven't already done so, I HIGHLY recommend that you read the previous N5 lesson first:

[NDL #441] - JLPT N5: をください

The reason that I highly recommend doing so is that this lesson is essentially looking at the same thing.

In that lesson, we saw that to request something, you can say "SOMETHING をください."

~をください is already quite formal, but if you want to be super formal, then you can change ください to くださいませんか.

~をくださいませんか
won't you please give me ~; could you possibly give me ~
Note: くださいませんか is more formal than ください.


So all we need to do now is look at a few examples, and you'll be done.


NOUN + + くださいませんか.


すみません、レシートくださいませんか
すみません、 レシート をくださいませんか。
Excuse me, could I possibly get my receipt, please?
Literally: “excuse me, + receipt + を + くださいませんか.”




As mentioned in the previous lesson, it's OK to insert a word between を and ください(ませんか) when you want to specify something about the NOUN that you would like. So our alternative formation looks something like this:


NOUN + + SPECIFICATION + ください(ませんか)


すみませんが、スプーン2本くださいませんか
すみません が、 スプーン を にほん くださいませんか。
Excuse me, could I possibly get two spoons, please?
Literally: “excuse me + が, + spoon + を + two (long cylindrical objects) + くださいませんか.”




Again, as we already saw, sometimes the NOUN will be a noun that expresses an action (e.g. a noun that can also be used as a する verb):


空港に着いたら、お電話くださいませんか
くうこう に ついたら、 おでんわ をくださいませんか。
Could you please call me when you arrive at the airport?
Literally: “airport + に + when (you have) arrived, + phone + を + くださいませんか.”




Note that your sentence does not necessarily have to have を.

Specifically, を is (perhaps obviously) unnecessary when the object marked by を is dropped.

For example, the second sentence below does not need を because the object 苺 (いちご // strawberries) is getting dropped (and it's getting dropped because we know it from context, thanks to the first sentence):

おいしそうな苺ですね。1つくださいませんか
おいしそうな いちご です ね。 ひとつ くださいませんか。
Those strawberries look delicious. Could I have one box, please?
Literally: “looks tasty + strawberries + です + ね. + one (thing) + くださいませんか.”



No worries if you don't know how to make おいしい, "tasty; delicious; good," into おいしそう, "looks tasty," as we'll go over how to do this in a future N4 lesson.




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