Don't reveal it with 〜てはだめだ

Grammar Explanation: Must not do with 〜てはだめだ

While telling ghost stories at night, Rize relays the tale from her childhood, of a frightened servant who felt she was being watched while walking home one night.

リゼ:: 「犯人(はんにん)はホフク前進(ぜんしん)の練習(れんしゅう)をしていた私(わたし)だ」; “I was the culprit. I was practicing crawling on my stomach.”
◯:: 「バラしちゃだめじゃん！！」; “You shouldn't reveal it!”

Key Points

1バラしちゃだめ means the culprit should not be revealed

バラす means revealing a secret or giving something away. The others object because Rize has disclosed that she was the figure in the ghost story.
バラしてはだめ contracts to バラしちゃだめ in casual speech.

2じゃん adds an exasperated reminder

じゃん contracts じゃない and has the force of “you know you shouldn’t!” rather than adding a second prohibition.

3犯人(はんにん)は…私(わたし)だ identifies the culprit

The sentence puts 犯人(はんにん) forward as the topic, then identifies it as the speaker. していた describes what she was doing at the time.

Vocabulary

犯人 (Criminal): 犯人(はんにん) means the culprit or person who committed a crime.
ホフク (Crawling): ホフク is crawling on one’s stomach. ホフク前進 is a soldier’s crawl forward. It is also written 匍匐(ほふく).
練習 (Practice): 練習(れんしゅう) means practice or rehearsal done to improve a skill or performance.
私 (I): 私(わたし) means “I” or “me”. It is the standard first-person pronoun in polite speech and is also common in casual speech among women.
バラす (To reveal): バラす is to let a secret out. It also means to take something apart.
だめ (No good): だめ describes something useless, hopeless, or not allowed. Said alone, it means “no!” or “don’t!” It is also written 駄目(だめ).

Don't reveal it with 〜てはだめだ

Which interpretation best matches the highlighted line?

Clues

Key Points

Vocabulary

犯人 (Criminal)

ホフク (Crawling)

練習 (Practice)

私 (I)

バラす (To reveal)

だめ (No good)

See Also