[Grammar] Don't you leave me?

[AppleFanboy]

I thought although 'don't you' is a negative form, it means almost same as positive one.

For example, when someone says, "don't you see?" or "don't you remember?", then I can assume they are saying "do you see" or "do you remember".

Because I'm not native, sometimes I find it difficult to understand 'don't ~' form, so I usually interpret 'don't' as 'do'.

But still I'm not sure of the followings..
--
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to
So can we finish what we started
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
--
'Brokenhearted' by Karmin.

--
Baby, don't you leave me
Baby, don't you leave me
Don't you break my heart
--
"Baby, Don't You Leave Me" Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston

What does 'don't you' mean? Can you please explain about it?
Thank you very much!!

 

[bhaisahab]

It means "do not".

 

[J&K Tutoring]

I have found that negative questions can be very confusing for native Asian-language speakers. You want to agree with the speaker, but English speakers agree/disagree according to the facts.

Let's say you are 17 years old, and I say:

1. 'You're 17, aren't you?' You say, "Yes, I am." (I want to confirm a correct positive.) You agree.

2. 'You're 16, aren't you?' You say, "No, I'm not." (I want to confirm an incorrect positive); you correct me.

3. 'You're not 17, are you?' You say, "Yes, I am." (I want to confirm an incorrect negative); you correct me.

4. 'You're not 16, are you?' (I want to confirm a correct negative.) You want to say, "Yes", as in 'Yes, you're right'. But the correct response is: "No, I'm not." The fact is that you are not 16, and you should respond accordingly, speaking in parallel with my correct statement.


Your examples are not quite the same:

"don't you see?" or "don't you remember?" are tag questions to confirm a belief that you do see or you do remember.

"Don't you leave me" is a request to not leave me, even though it's in the form of a demand.