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～ずに / ～ないで: How to Say "Without Doing" in Japanese

～ずに and ～ないで both attach to a verb and mean "without doing X." The main clause action happens in the absence of action X.12 At N3, the pair splits cleanly along one axis a learner can master quickly: register.

Overview​

The two forms are largely interchangeable in meaning and differ mainly in tone. ～ずに leans written, literary, and formal; ～ないで leans conversational.324

～ないで is the more basic form and appears on its own at N4. The ずに/せずに register layer and the せずに irregular belong to N3.35

～ず is a survival of the classical negative auxiliary ず. ～ずに combines that classical 連用形 (continuative form) ず with the particle に. This is why the form feels formal and why its stem is irregular.6

How to form ～ずに and ～ないで​

Both forms start from the verb's negative stem, then take different endings. ～ないで builds on the everyday plain negative (ない形); ～ずに swaps in the classical ず auxiliary. する is irregular with ずに, so it gets its own section below.

～ないで: nai-form minus い, plus で​

Start with the plain negative (ない-form): take the full ない-form and add で → ないで.17 This article assumes you already know the plain negative stem.

  • 食べない → 食べないで
  • 見ない → 見ないで
  • 買わない → 買わないで

The two irregular verbs behave regularly here: する → しないで, and 来る (くる) → 来ないで (こないで). The irregularity covered below is specific to the ずに stem.1

何なにも食たべないで一日いちにちを過すごす。7
"To spend a whole day without eating anything."

中身なかみを調しらべないで送おくった。7
"I sent it without checking the contents."

休やすまないで仕事しごとをする。5
"To work without taking a break."

～ずに: the ず negative auxiliary plus に​

Take the same negative stem that ない attaches to (the 未然形, the indeterminate form). Swap ない for ず, then add に: stem + ずに.31

  • 食べる → 食べず → 食べずに
  • 見る → 見ず → 見ずに
  • 書く → 書かず → 書かずに

The に may be dropped. Bare ず is grammatical, but it is heavier and more literary. It is common in writing and formal speech.1 The に is the adverbial particle that makes the ず-clause describe the manner of the main verb.6

The irregular verb 来る follows the same pattern, except for its reading shift: 来る (くる) → 来ず (こず) → 来ずに (こずに).4 する is treated next.

～ずに stays common in formal writing

Although ～ずに carries the classical ず auxiliary, it is not archaic. References describe it as a written form, slightly more formal than ないで, yet still frequently used in modern Japanese.32

彼かれは朝あさごはんを食たべずに仕事しごとに行いきました。3
"He went to work without eating breakfast."

値段ねだんを見みずに買かったら大変たいへんなことになった。3
"I bought it without checking the price, and it turned into a real mess."

何なにも考かんがえずに服ふくを買かった。4
"Without thinking at all, I bought the clothes."

The せずに irregular (する → せず)​

する does not become しずに. Here, the negative stem is せ (the 未然形 せ of する), so する → せず → せずに.317

Both せ and し are indeterminate stems of する. ない selects し (しない), but the ず auxiliary selects せ (せず). This is the point learners most often miss in this pattern.7

Compound する-verbs follow the same pattern: 勉強する → 勉強せずに, 心配する → 心配せず(に), 苦労する → 苦労せずに.17

勉強べんきょうせずに試験しけんに受うかった。1
"I passed the exam without studying."

勉強べんきょうしないで試験しけんに受うかった。7
"I passed the exam without studying." (the conversational ないで counterpart of the same sentence)

私わたしはなんの苦労くろうもせずに育そだった。7
"I grew up without any hardship at all."

Nuance and usage contexts​

The core register split: ずに written/formal, ないで spoken​

The two forms are broadly interchangeable. For example, 朝ご飯を食べないで学校に行った and 朝ご飯を食べずに学校に行った both mean "I went to school without eating breakfast."2

The difference is tone, not basic meaning. ずに has a slightly more formal or literary feel and is preferred in written language, literature, and formal speech. ないで is more conversational but acceptable in both contexts.312

The same verb in the same sentence can take either ending. Only the register changes.

朝あさご飯はんを食たべないで学校がっこうに行いった。2
"I went to school without eating breakfast." (conversational)

朝あさご飯はんを食たべずに学校がっこうに行いった。2
"I went to school without eating breakfast." (more formal/literary)

妹いもうとはいつも電気でんきを消けさないで寝ねる。7
"My little sister always goes to sleep without turning off the light." (conversational)

妹いもうとはいつも電気でんきを消けさずに寝ねる。7
"My little sister always goes to sleep without turning off the light." (more formal/literary)

Two readings: "without doing X (instead)" vs "without doing X (and then)"​

Both ずに and ないで carry two related senses. The first is manner or substitution: the main action is done in the absence of X. Often, X was expected, so it is effectively skipped (食べずに行った = went without eating).1

The second is sequential or parallel: the form connects clauses as "do the main thing without, or instead of, doing X," linking the two actions.1 Context determines which reading applies. Both forms support both readings.1

歌詞かしを見みないで歌うたった。1
"I sang without looking at the lyrics." (manner: the singing was done in the absence of looking)

ご飯はんを食たべないで寝ねる。1
"I'll go to bed without eating." (substitution: instead of eating, go to bed)

値段ねだんを見みずに買かった。3
"I bought it without checking the price." (manner, formal register)

～ないでください: the request use ずに cannot share​

～ないで(ください) forms a negative request: "please don't do X." ずに/せずに cannot fill this role. You can say ～ないでください, but not ～ずにください.37

Without ください, plain ～ないで can be a casual negative request ("don't…"). It is softer than the blunt command form ～な (such as するな). Adding ください makes it polite.5

ずに cannot form a negative request

This is the one place where the two forms are not interchangeable. To tell someone politely not to do something, only ～ないでください works. ～ずにください is not grammatical Japanese.3

心配しんぱいしないでください。1
"Please don't worry."

遠慮えんりょしないで聞きいてください。1
"Please ask without holding back."

泣なかないで、「大丈夫だいじょうぶだよ」とだけ言いった。5
"Without crying, she just said, 'I'm okay.'"

～ずに / ～ないで vs ～なくて​

なくて marks cause/reason, not manner​

～なくて attaches to the negative form but expresses a reason or cause, not a manner. 宿題をしなくて怒られた = "I was scolded because I didn't do my homework."1

ずに and ないで express manner ("without doing"), so they are not interchangeable with なくて in the cause sense.1 ～なくて also attaches to adjectives and nouns (美味しくなくて, "it isn't tasty, and…"). ずに and ないで cannot appear in those positions because they are verb-only.1

The fuller ないで/なくて distinction sits beyond this article's "without doing" scope. That topic includes adjective and noun attachment and finer cause cases.

宿題しゅくだいをしなくて怒おこられた。1
"I got scolded because I didn't do my homework." (cause)

宿題しゅくだいをしないで遊あそんだ。1
"I played without doing my homework." (manner; contrast with the なくて cause sentence above)

Good to know​

Why せずに, not しずに​

The form learners miss most often is the する negative. They overgeneralize from しない and produce しずに, which is wrong. する has more than one 未然形 stem: ない selects し (しない), but the classical ず auxiliary selects せ, giving せず → せずに.374 The correct form is below.

勉強べんきょうせずにテストを受うけた。4
"I took the test without studying."

A memory hook: せず is the formal twin of しない. Pair せずに with its everyday counterpart (勉強せずに ↔ 勉強しないで). This anchors the せ stem to the formal register and keeps it from collapsing into the more familiar し.7

Dropping the に: bare ～ず​

ず without に (書けず, 見つからず, 知らず) is grammatical but heavier and more literary than ずに. It fits writing and formal speech, not casual conversation.1 When you read it in a novel or a formal notice, parse it the same way as ずに. The に has simply been left off.

～ずじまい: "ended up not doing"​

～ずじまい is the negative ず plus じまい, the voiced form of しまい / しまう ("finish, end"). It describes an intended action that, in the end, never happened. The tone usually suggests regret or disappointment.89 It uses the same せず irregular: する → せずじまい.8

The form often pairs with 結局 or とうとう ("in the end," "ultimately") and a past-tense close (…ずじまいだった).9 It is an adjacent form worth recognizing, not core N3 material. Its JLPT level is disputed: Bunpro tags it N1,8 while several teaching references place it at N2.9

結局けっきょく、彼かれがどうして怒おこっていたのか、わからずじまいだった。9
"In the end, I never did figure out why he had been angry."

The ぬ / ず classical root​

In classical Japanese (文語), the auxiliary ず carried negation and attached to the 未然形 of the verb. Its 連用形 (continuative form) was ず, and its 連体形 (the noun-modifying form) was ぬ.6

Modern ～ずに descends from the 連用形 ず, with に added to mark the adverbial manner function. Modern ～ぬ / ～ん descends from the 連体形 ぬ (ん is the n-euphonic reduction of ぬ, as in しません ← ませぬ).6 The classical 連用形 ず, used as a clause-continuative in the Nara period, is the form that survived into the modern ずに.6

The takeaway for a learner is simple: the irregular せ stem and the formal feel of ずに both come from this classical layer, not from the modern ない paradigm. This etymology rests on a single hobbyist reference, so treat it as background rather than a settled citation.

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. Wasabi. "Negative Sequential and Parallel Actions: ないで, なくて, and ずに." wasabi-jpn.com. https://wasabi-jpn.com/magazine/japanese-grammar/negative-sequential-and-parallel-actions/ (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22

  2. Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1986. Entry "-naide," pp. 271–273. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Bunpro. "ずに (JLPT N3)." Grammar reference entry. bunpro.jp. https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%9A%E3%81%AB (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  4. The Japanese Page. "Using ずに zu ni – Without Doing." thejapanesepage.com. https://www.thejapanesepage.com/zuni/ (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Bunpro. "ないで (JLPT N4)." Grammar reference entry. bunpro.jp. https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7 (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. classicaljapanese (Classical Japanese grammar reference). "～ず." classicaljapanese.wordpress.com, 2014. https://classicaljapanese.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/zu/ (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Maggie Sensei. "〜ずに (= zuni) & 〜ないで (= naide)." maggiesensei.com, 2013. https://maggiesensei.com/2013/10/22/%E3%80%9C%E3%81%9A%E3%81%AB-zuni-%E3%80%9C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7naide/ (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  8. Bunpro. "ずじまい (JLPT N1)." Grammar reference entry. bunpro.jp. https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%9A%E3%81%98%E3%81%BE%E3%81%84 (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. 日本語NET (nihongokyoshi-net). "【JLPT N2】文法・例文：〜ずじまい." nihongokyoshi-net.com, 2019. https://nihongokyoshi-net.com/2019/06/09/jlptn2-grammar-zujimai/ (limitation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4