How to Say ‘No good / not working / not OK’ in Japanese
だめ
dame
[dah-meh]
💬 Usage Tip: [だめ] is casual but extremely common. It means “not working / not allowed / hopeless,” depending on context.
🇯🇵 In Japan: Even though it’s casual, you’ll hear it in daily life a lot. If you want extra polite, you can say [だめです] or [使えません].
Phrase Breakdown
だめ
dame
[dah-meh]
not working; no good; not allowed
Na-adjective/noun. In maintenance talk, it often means “it doesn’t work / it’s broken.” More casual; polite alternatives include 使えません or 故障しています.
給湯器がだめみたいです。
It seems the water heater isn’t working.
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