JapaneseJLPT
JLPT N4 grammar · Chapter 4

~まま

Leave or keep something unchanged

You'll be able to say that a state continues while another action happens or nothing is changed.

Illustration of the scene described by Ren slept with the light left on.
Read it first

蓮れんは電気でんきをつけたまま寝ねました。

ren wa denki o tsuketa mama nemashita.

What do you think this sentence means?

Ren slept with the light left on.

Why it means that

Leave a condition unchanged

~まま says that a condition continues unchanged while something else happens. An expected change may not have occurred.

Example

靴くつを履はいたまま入はいらないでください。

kutsu o haita mama hairanaide kudasai.

Please do not enter with your shoes on.

How it is built

Form and use ~まま

Use た-form for an established state and ない-form for something left undone. Nouns take の, な-adjectives take な, and い-adjectives attach directly. This describes an unchanged state while another action occurs.

Verb た-form / ない-form+まま/Noun+のまま
Examples

靴くつを履はいたまま入はいらないでください。

kutsu o haita mama hairanaide kudasai.

Please do not enter with your shoes on.

朝ご飯あさごはんを食たべないまま出でかけました。

asagohan o tabenai mama dekakemashita.

I went out without eating breakfast.

この部屋へやは昔むかしのままです。

kono heya wa mukashi no mama desu.

This room is just as it was long ago.

Examples

昨日きのうはとても疲つかれていたので、服ふくを着きたまま寝ねました。

kinou wa totemo tsukarete ita node, fuku o kita mama nemashita.

I was very tired yesterday, so I slept with my clothes on.

窓まどを開あけたまま出でかけないでください。

mado o aketa mama dekakenaide kudasai.

Please don't go out with the window open.

この野菜やさいは生なまのまま食たべられます。

kono yasai wa nama no mama taberaremasu.

You can eat this vegetable raw.

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