620 - べからず
You know how we can attach べき to a VERB to mean "should VERB," yeah?
If not, then put your review pants on and go read this: [NDL #429] - JLPT N3: べきだ.
You also know that the verb ending ~ず means ~ない, yeah? That is, it's a negative verb ending. JLPT N2 and N1 tests love the ~ず verb ending.
↑ Smash all that together, and you get ↓
JLPT N1: べからず (must not)
Placing べからず after a VERB changes the meaning to "must not VERB" or "cannot VERB" or "VERB not allowed."
This is an outdated, written form. I doubt you'll ever hear people saying it, and you certainly don't need to be using it in your own Japanese. You may, however, see it printed on a sign every now and then.
Like this:
私有地につき、入るべからず。
しゆうち に つき、 はいるべからず。
Private Property. No Trespassing.
Literally: “private property + につき (=because of / on account of), + enter + べからず.”
Instead of 入るべからず, it would be more common to write something like 入ってはいけません (はいってはいけません // Do not enter.) or perhaps even just 入らないでください (はいらないでください // Please do not enter.).
If you're old school, though, perhaps you would opt to write 入るべからず.
Wait a second.
Didn't we already study this?
Mmm... not quite. But we studied something very similar: [NDL #403] - JLPT N1: べからざる.
📚 Grammar Stuff 📚
V る + べからず
must not VERB; cannot VERB
Just like we saw with べきだ, when the VERB before べからず is する, we say すべからず or するべからず.
Writing this lesson, I wondered: Why does べからず mean "must not" or "cannot?"
Like you, I too ask questions that teachers hate answering.
So I looked up べからず in a dictionary:
べからず:〔推量の助動詞「べし」の未然形「べから」に打ち消しの助動詞「ず」の付いたもの〕
助動詞「べし」の打ち消しの言い方。現代語でも文語的表現として用いられることがある。
べからず comes from adding the negative ending ず to the imperfective form べから of the conjectural helping verb べし. It is a negative form of the helping verb べし. It is sometimes used in modern written language.
To summarize, the dictionary was telling me:
Some examples:
初心、忘るべからず。
しょしん、 わするべからず。
One must not forget one’s original feelings (when starting out).
Literally: “initial feelings, + forget + べからず.”
Note: 忘る (わする) just means 忘れる (わすれる) here, "to forget." 忘るべからず is kind of a set phrase.
最後の最後まで、油断するべからず。
さいご の さいご まで、 ゆだん するべからず。
You cannot let your guard down until the very end. // One must not be careless until it is all finished.
Literally: “last + の + last + まで (=until), + carelessness / negligence + do + べからず.”
人を安易に信用すべからず。
ひと を あんい に しんよう すべからず。
Do not be quick to trust others.
Literally: “person + を + easy / simple + に + trust / faith + すべからず.”
Enough!
Oh, and maybe I should have mentioned this before, but you might also want to look at this lesson on べく, which has quite a different meaning than べきだ 、べからざる、and べからず:[NDL #354] - JLPT N1: べく.
Get confused べからず, yo.