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We use this expression when we want another person or other people to stop somebody from doing something or stop something from happening.
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- Don’t let him leave.
(=Stop him from leaving. / Make sure he doesn’t leave.)
- Don’t let him leave.
- Don’t let the food burn.
(=Make sure the food doesn’t burn.)
Don’t let + noun + verb…
We can also use pronouns instead of nouns.
- Don’t let the baby fall.
- Don’t let me eat cookies. I am on a diet.
- Don’t let her come.
- Don’t let him see. It is a secret.
- Don’t let her enter until we are ready.
- Don’t let anybody come in until 10 pm.
- Don’t let anyone speak to you rudely.
- Don’t let the dog jump on the bed.
We can also use an adverb after the pronoun instead of a verb.
Don’t let + pronoun + adverb…
We can also add an infinitive (to + verb) after the adverb.
- Don’t let the cat outside.
- Don’t let the baby in this room.
- Don’t let James in.
- Don’t let her in to see me.
- Don’t let the children out to play.
We can make these commands more polite by adding the word “please”.
- Please don’t let her see this letter.
- Please don’t let the dog out of the house.
- Don’t let the dog come in this room, please.
- Don’t let me smoke, please. I am trying to quit.
Bonus Tips and Points
1. We can make the opposite sentence by removing “don’t”.
Let + noun + verb…
- Let me see.
- Let the dog outside.
- Let me take a look, please.
- Please let her come.
2. We can make a similar sentence using “Make sure…”. However, this sentence pattern does not always have the same meaning. It depends on how it is used.
Make sure (that) + noun + don’t/doesn’t + verb…
- Make sure that he doesn’t see it.(=Don’t let him see it.)
- Make sure nobody comes in.(=Don’t let anybody come in.)
Real-World English Conversations
A) Don’t let James come in.
B) Why?
A) We are preparing his surprise birthday party.
B) Don’t worry. I won’t let him come in.
A) Please don’t let anyone know.
B) Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody.
A) Can I let her see this?
B) Absolutely not. Don’t let anybody see.
A) Don’t let anyone see this report until after we announce the merger.
B) Got it.
A) Don’t let the dog out while it is raining.
B) What if the dog has to go to the bathroom?
A) I guess we have no choice. Let the dog out if it needs to do its business.
Study these free English lessons to improve your English speaking. If you learn these common sentence patterns well, then your English speaking will improve greatly and you will be able to have fluent conversations in English in the near future! Study the lessons well, practice using the sentences and questions at home and in real life, and make sure to come back to review the material so you do not forget. If you do these three things, then you will be speaking English like a native English speaker in no time!
English Sentence Patterns for Speaking Index
