Please keep the lights on.

I saw a picture of a light switch with a sign underneath it that said "Please keep the lights on." Actually, it was a bit of Engrish at first and said "Please keep the fun on" but that's neither here nor there

I tried to figure how I might translate this into Japanese (minus the fun) and the first thing I thought of was 電気をつけておいてください but I'm not really sure if this would be a correct translation. To me this translation seems more like the lights are off now, so turn them on and keep them that way. Then I thought maybe I could say 電気をこのままでおいてください but I'm even less confident in this one. I could just make it simple and say 電気を消さないでください but that doesn't quite have the same nuance.

Then I got to thinking I don't really have a firm grasp on the "keep~" construct. Some of them don't seem so hard, for example "keep walking" (I think) is 歩き続けて. I think my main confusion comes from the fact that in Japanese there isn't a magical word like "kept" or "keep" that can be used so universally. Please correct me if I'm wrong. For example, in English I could say "He kept coming back," "I will keep the door open," "He kept walking" but in Japanese you might need something like なんども、～おく、続ける、ずっと、etc. I don't really know if there is a question in there, but thought I would express my feelings :sorry:

"電気/明かりをついたままにして(おいて)くれませんか/下さい" = Please leave the lights on.


The vast majority of cases will take おいて just logically, but I gave a basic template because obviously there may be exceptions. And there _should_ be a construction that works in ずっと which is more like continuously in a state or "keep going" for a longer period of time. Will keep thinking.

Thanks Elizabeth, your example is very helpful. I wasn't necessarily looking for an example that uses ずっと、I was just ranting on about the many uses of the "keep~" construct in English.

One question, though. Isn't 点く an intransitive verb? If so, shouldn't it then be 電気/明かりがついたままに．．． ?

電気がついた。付ける ? 点く ? = Turn on/Lit up/catch on fire/be lighted....The lights turned (themselves) on.

(trans.) to turn on = を付く

The intransitive ついたままにしておく sounds like "the light turned on automatically," whereas the transitive つけたままにしておく is more likely "someone turned the light on."

Half-n-Half said:

Then I thought maybe I could say 電気をこのままでおいてください but I'm even less confident in this one.

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If you're asking whether you should turn off the lights, "It's fine just like this !" could be part of someone's answer.

このままでいい(です)よ

I have a small question. Why can't we use ある to say that someone is keeping it on as planned?

Putrefaction said:

I have a small question. Why can't we use ある to say that someone is keeping it on as planned?

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電気が/をつけたままにしてあります is just a description of a present fact. 電気をつけたままにしておいてください is a request for the future.

I see, I did not realize this. The しておく ください form is used in that sense.