The Meaning of Dame (だめ) in Japanese

Published on June 9, 2022•Keith

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

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.

駄目だめかもしれないけど、やってみる
(It) might be useless but (I) will try

これ以上いじょうはダメだ
Beyond this is useless

太郎たろうに直接ちょくせつに聞きいても駄目だと思おもう
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
The test was fruitless (I did not pass the test)

お母かあさんに事情じじょうを全部ぜんぶ説明せつめいしたけど、駄目だった
(we) explained everything to mom but it was fruitless (she did not believe us)

昨日きのうの試合しあいはだめだった
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.

まだ準備じゅんびできていないので、入はいってはだめだ
(I) am not ready yet so don’t come in yet

絶対ぜったいに電話でんわを忘わすれちゃだめだよ
You definitely must not forget to call

スティーブを驚おどろかせたいから誕生日たんじょうびパーティーのことを言いってはだめだよ
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.

この機械きかいは壊こわれてだめだ
This machine broke and is not working

温度おんどを間違まちがえて焦こがしてしまった。このケーキはもうだめだ
(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、何なにがあったか教おしえて
I can’t stand it anymore, tell me what happened

このクラスはもうだめだ。
(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.

駄目だめな人ひと
No-good person

駄目な会社かいしゃ
No-good company

More Examples

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 X (Twitter) .