sensushi
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ないで details

write + not + without doing

kakanai de

without doing; don't (do)

meaning: without writing

今朝けさは何なにも食べたべないで家いえを出でた。

kesa wa nani mo tabenai de ie o deta.

I left the house this morning without eating anything. neutral

あ、それまだ捨すてないで！

a, sore mada sutenaide!

Ah, don't throw that away yet! casual

Examples

without doing X — a negative side-circumstance attached to the main verb

今朝けさは何なにも食たべないで家いえを出でた。

kesa wa nani mo tabenaide ie o deta.

I left the house this morning without eating anything. neutral

封筒ふうとうは開あけないで、そのままお持もちください。

fuutou wa akenaide, sonomama o mochi kudasai.

Please bring the envelope as it is, without opening it. formal

don't — sentence-final plea stopping the listener

あ、それまだ捨すてないで！

a, sore mada sutenaide!

Ah, don't throw that away yet! casual

Formation

Notes

Politeness turns the plea into ないでください — its own entry. The literary equivalent ずに rides the classical stem (する→せずに), so it attaches differently and is not listed as a variant.

Related patterns

Similar

  • てはいけない

    Both stop the listener — てはいけない states the rule bluntly; ないで(ください) frames the same stop as a request, which is what strangers actually hear.

Opposite

  • ながらplain-antonym

    Same adverbial slot, flipped polarity — ないで removes the side action from the scene, ながら runs it alongside the main verb.

Lookalikes

  • なくて

    Both open with the ない-form, but ないで hangs its clause on the following verb as manner (食べないで出かけた — went out without eating), while なくて closes it off as a reason (食べられなくて残念); each usually sounds wrong in the other's slot.

  • ないでください

    ないでください is ないで plus the imperative ください — mid-sentence ないで is the adverbial "without doing"; sentence-finally both do request duty, and casual speech drops ください entirely, collapsing the pair.

  • ないといけない

    ないで is "without doing", not obligation — easy to misread at reading speed.