The tone of the words . . . the court really slapped them. (I’ve been slowly catching up! Recovering from the dental operation put me behind.)
してはいけない
Do not do it
- Whenever you change a verb to て-form and tack on はいけない, you are saying that action (verb) is something that is not allowed.
- Note that the は before いけない is a topic marker here for emphasis.
- If you can’t wrap your head around it, remember that いけない is the formal version of だめ.
- You can also translate this to “You cannot do it.”
うんてん
「運転してはいけない」
“Do not operate“
い
「運転してはいけない」と言う
They say, “Do not operate.”
The と in front of 言う conveys that the phrase before is exactly what was said.
さいばんしょ
裁判所が「運転してはいけない」と言う
The court says, “Do not operate.”
The が particle marks who does the action.
とまりげんぱつ
泊原発 裁判所が「運転してはいけない」と言う
Court says, “Do not operate” Tomari Nuclear Power Plant
- In this sentence, を was replaced by the space.
- Since it’s a news headline, the order of things is for quick reading.
ほっかいどう
北海道の泊原発 裁判所が「運転してはいけない」と言う
Court says, “Do not operate” the Hokkaido Tomari Nuclear Power Plant
- The particle の here is used to tell us something about the power plant.
- の goes between two nouns.