nasai/shinasai? （なさい/しなさい）

[HelixSundown]

I recently came across this structure while watching an untranslated anime... a quick run to Google produced nothing. I figured, why waste time going somewhere else, when I could just come to JPod101 and probably get a proper answer!

The sentence I got confused with was, "(name), dou iu koto ga setsumei shinasai?" Which I'm guessing is, "How do you explain this" or something like that, but I don't quite grasp the actual syntax of the sentence. I don't understand how it's put together. Is "shinasai" some special use of "nasai?" And what exactly is "dou iu koto?" みんな-さん、　たすけてください！

[markystar]

"Explain what is is."

どういうこと is basically the same as どんなこと　"what kind of thing"
it's used a lot in spoken japanese.

ko-so-do-a word pattern
こういうこと this kind of thing
そういうこと that kind of thing (near you)
ああいうこと that kind of thing (over there)
どういうこと what kind of thing?

説明する is to give details, to explain
しなさい is a command form of する (given from a superior to an inferior)

どういうことが what kind of thing it is
説明しなさい explain, give details (command)
"Tell us what it is."

[markystar]

PS:　助けてください is "help me!" in the sense of "save me!"
i think in this case 手伝ってください "help me out, give me a hand!" would be more natural .

[HelixSundown]

Fantastic! Thanks for the help.

PS:　助けてください is "help me!" in the sense of "save me!"
i think in this case 手伝ってください "help me out, give me a hand!" would be more natural .

Oh. That's good to know. I thought "tasukete" would add some nice drama. XD

[jkeyz15]

なさい comes from なさる...it's used to make a somewhat soft command. Like I picture a mother scolding her children maybe...

[Jason]

Here's how you can make this softer command form out of any verb. It's really easy. All you do is take the conjunctive form of the verb and add なさい. The conjunctive form is simply the -masu stem of the verb (take the -masu form of the verb and chop off -masu).

-食べる　ー＞　食べなさい
-走る　ー＞　走りなさい
-書く　ー＞　書きなさい
-する　ー＞　しなさい
-来る　ー＞　来[き]なさい

Like jkeyz15 mentioned, なさい is actually the conjunctive form of the verb なさる (なさる is irregular when it conjugates in the polite, -masu form) which is an honorific version of する. Why it's used for commands, I have no idea.

[Psy]

"(name), dou iu koto ga setsumei shinasai?"

My 6th sense tells me that you may have misheard ka as ga, and that the actual spoken sentence was (name), dou iu koto ka setsumei shinasai, for which a natural translation might be "(name), what is the meaning of this?" In no area of my studies have I ever encountered shinasai used in the sense of a question, so while the above is an accurate translation, the literal meaning is "name, explain what kind of thing this is." Basically, ka in the middle of a sentence allows you to add more information to a question:

dou sureba ii (ka) (what should I do?!)
dou sureba ii ka wakaranai (I don't know what to do...)

It's a cool construction so keep your ears open.