The Meaning of Dame (だめ) in Japanese

The meaning of dame (だめ) in Japanese can be useless, fruitless, ruined, no-good, and so on. Here is more explanation on dame’s various meanings

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Dame means Useless

Dame can mean useless. So you can use it when you want to say that any more effort won’t work, or is pointless or that this is beyond what you are able to do.

駄目かもしれないけど、やってみる
dame kamo sirenai kedo, yatte miru
(It) might be useless but (I) will try

これ以上はダメだ
kore ijou ha dame da
Beyond this is useless

太郎に直接に聞いても駄目だと思う
Tarou ni chokusetsu ni kiitemo dame da to omou
Even if you ask Taro directly (I) think it is useless

Dame means Fruitless

If you are aiming for some result but it does not succeed then it is fruitless.

テストはダメだった
tesuto ha dame datta
The test was fruitless (I did not pass the test)

お母さんに事情を全部説明したけど、駄目だった
okāsan ni jijou wo zenbu setsumei sita kedo, dame datta
(we) explained everything to mom but it was fruitless (she did not believe us)

昨日の試合はだめだった
kinou no shiai ha dame datta
The competition yesterday was fruitless (we lost)

Dame is used for saying no, or don’t

Dame is used to say something is not allowed or is prohibited. This is an informal way to say something is not allowed or not ok.

まだ準備できていないので、入ってはだめだ
mada junbi dekiteinai node, haitte ha dame da
(I) am not ready yet so don’t come in yet

絶対に電話を忘れちゃだめだよ
zettaini denwa wo wasurecha dame da yo
You definitely must not forget to call

スティーブを驚かせたいから誕生日パーティーのことを言ってはだめだよ
sutību wo odorokasetai kara tanjiōbi pātī no koto wo itteha dame dayo
I want to surprise steve so don’t say anything about the birthday party

Another meaning of dame is Not working or ruined

You can also say dame for anything that is not working or functioning. If you are talking about a machine, or anything else. Dame can also mean that something is ruined.

この機会が壊れてだめだ
kono kikai ga kowarete dame da
This machine broke and is not working

温度を間違えて焦がしてしまった。このケーキはもうだめだ
ondo wo matigaete kogashite simatta. kono kēki ha mou dame da.
(I) messed up the temperature. This cake is ruined.

Can’t stand it anymore, I give up

When you don’t think you can stand it anymore you can use dame. Or when you have given up on something you can also use dame.

もうだめだ、何があったか教えて
mou dame da, nani ga atta ka osiete
I can’t stand it anymore, tell me what happened

このクラスはもうだめだ。
kono kurasu ha mou dame da
(I) give up on this class

No-good is one meaning of Dame

Finally, you can say dame for something that is no good. This can mean a lot of things but usually, it is used to describe someone or something that you don’t approve of.

駄目な人
dame na hito
No-good person

駄目な会社
dame na kaisha
No-good company

If you want to learn more hard to translate words in Japanese check out some of my other posts. Also, if you want to see how Japanese people use dame check out Twitter.

If you are interested in learning Japanese I have reviewed what I consider the best resource for Japanese Grammar below: