I think the former is more direct - 止まれ means "Stop!" as in *just stop*. Wheras 止めろ means "Stop (something i.e. your car)". Think about the example in English - "Karina: Please *stop the car* in front of that flower shop" "Stop signs read 'stop'". Command forms are often used with transitive verbs, (e.g. 元気出せ) but the plain command form is impolite in general so not heard so frequently. But I am making this up, perhaps someone Japanese would have a more considered opinion
Posted by Anonymous on Feb 28th, 2010 at 12:58 pm.
I think the former is more
I think the former is more direct - 止まれ means "Stop!" as in *just stop*. Wheras 止めろ means "Stop (something i.e. your car)". Think about the example in English - "Karina: Please *stop the car* in front of that flower shop" "Stop signs read 'stop'". Command forms are often used with transitive verbs, (e.g. 元気出せ) but the plain command form is impolite in general so not heard so frequently. But I am making this up, perhaps someone Japanese would have a more considered opinion