Hi people. I have seen the expression "onegai dakara.in some example sentences and I really don't understand the meaning of "dakara" here. For example: お願いだからドアを閉めて! (onegai dakara doa o shimete). My girlfriend who is Japanese told me that I can remove the "dakara" and the sentence would be ok too, but if I want to insist with the request because nobody did what I wanted, I must add "dakara". Is that correct? So, "dakara" doesn't have a real translation here?
Hi people. I have seen the expression "onegai dakara.in some example sentences and I really don't understand the meaning of "dakara" here. For example: お願いだからドアを閉めて! (onegai dakara doa o shimete). My girlfriend who is Japanese told me that I can remove the "dakara" and the sentence would be ok too, but if I want to insist with the request because nobody did what I wanted, I must add "dakara". Is that correct? So, "dakara" doesn't have a real translation here?
It basically turns into "I asked nicely, so please shut the door.".
お願いだから basically translates as "I beg of you" or "For heaven's sake". You'll hear it a lot in historical and crime dramas where a victim is trying to convince someone in authority to listen to their side of the story. The character usually says something like お願いだから、話を聞いてください (For the love of God, please listen to my story).
These days, it's usually used to draw attention to the fact that you need someone's assistance to do something and no one is paying attention to your needs. Like when you have both hands full and need help to open a door and everyone seems to be ignoring you. In English you'd say (with some exasperation) "Would you please open the door?"
So your girlfriend is correct. If you walk in and want the person behind you to close the door, just お願い is fine. But if the door is left standing open, you need to use お願いだから.
だから has a real, literal translation here. The だ is in fact the copula, and から is "from" or "since". From them, therefore, you get だから as "therefore". Onegai as a noun means "request, wish, plea, hope, desire". So, literally you are saying "From the hope that exists,...", "By there being a request,..." or "Since it is a desire,...", which adds the emphasis. It's like the difference between "Please close the door." and "I'm asking you to please close the door."
Thank you all of the answers, they helped me a lot. So, in other words, "onegai dakara" is used to make emphasis on a request, right?
It's used to express that the request was made earlier, and hasn't been acted upon yet. I'll note that in daily Japanese life, I've only ever heard it from parents whose children aren't listening or teachers whose students aren't listening. It's pretty much "I asked you/for someone to do X, why haven't you/hasn't anyone done it?"
