ないで vs なくて

Almost every Japanese student sooner or later stumbles upon a certain problem – the existence of two negative forms of て. This caused many headaches in the past, but with this (unlike before) Brief article I will try to explain where it’s better to use one or other.

So let’s start, with conjugations, so we have a clear comparison. Both negative て forms are created by simply adding ないで or なくて to negative stem form (the part that is left from a word when you remove ない, 食べない, 飲まない, Japanese call it 未然形 （みぜんけい）).

Verb	未然形 (negative stem)	なくて	ないで
見（み）る	見	見なくて	見ないで
座（すわ）る	座ら	座らなくて	座らないで
打（う）つ	打た	打たなくて	打たないで
歩（ある）く	歩か	歩かなくて	歩かないで
泳（およ）ぐ	泳が	泳がなくて	泳がないで
死（し）ぬ	死な	死ななくて	死なないで
飛（と）ぶ	飛ば	飛ばなくて	飛ばないで
休(やす）む	休ま	休まなくて	休ないで
話(はな）す	話さ	話さなくて	話さないで

First and major difference is that ないで is only used with verbs, while なくて is used both with verbs, adjectives and nouns!

Part of speech	なくて	ないで
Verb	食べなくて	食べないで
なAdjective	好（すき）きではくて（じゃなくて）	ー
いAdjective	小（ちい）さくなくて	ー
Noun	水ではなくて（じゃなくて）	ー

Examples:

メアリーさんは東京（とうきょう）に行（い）かないで京都（きょうと）に行った。

Mary didn’t go to Tokyo, she went to Kyoto.

参加（さんか）でき*なくて残念（ざんねん）です。I regret not being able to join you.

魚（さかな）じゃなくて肉（にく）が食たべたい。I want to eat meat, not fish. (ではなくて・じゃなくて is often used in pattern “not A, but B”)

試験は難しくなくてよかったです。I am glad that the exam was not hard.

学校はあまり好きじゃなくて大学に行きたくない。I don’t like school much, so I don’t want to go to University.

Another difference can be also spotted in those example sentences. なくて is usually used to express a reason or cause*. This is much less common for ないで. The ’cause’/’reason’ nuance is much weaker than から and ので, and is very often used with expressions of feelings or emotions like なく*て困（こま）る、なくて大変（たいへん）、なくて疲（つか）れている、なくて心配（しんぱい）、なくて◯が痛（いた）い、、なくて残念（ざんねん）while ないで means ‘without doing’ or ‘do not do something and.

現金（げんきん）が足（た）りなくて困（こま）った… I was troubled because I did not have enough money. (notice that tense is expressed by the last verb since て form does not have this information in itself)

メアリーさんは東京（とうきょう）に行（い）かないで京都（きょうと）に行（い）った。

Mary didn’t go to Tokyo, she went to Kyoto.

In addition to all that, ないで and なくて have their own set expressions, where only one sounds natural (or the other is much less common)

ないで is the only one that is used with auxiliaries like ください (please)、ほしい(want)、おく(to do something in preparation)。

それをしないでください、Plesae, do not do that.

それを言（い）わないでほしい。I do not want you to say that.

パスタはあるから買（か）わないでおいた。(ておく means to do something in preparation)Because I have pasta, I didn’t buy it (in preparation for something).

Also, only ないで is used at the end of the sentence to mean ‘do not do something.

それをしないで。(Please), Do not do that!

Here are some fixed expressions with なくて like:

なくてもいい – don’t have to

忙（いそが）しいなら、行（い）か なくてもいい です。 (It is also more or less OK with ないで:)

If you are busy, you don’t have to come.

なくては(いけない/ならない) (must/have to)

ターミネーターを破壊（はかい）しなくてはいけない

We have to destroy the terminator!

ぜひとも 勝（か）たなくてはならない

We have to win no matter what!

明日（あした）、メアリーさんに 会わなくちゃいけない。(なくちゃ is a slang form of なくては)

明日、グラントさんに 会わなくちゃ。(the part after なくちゃ can be omitted since it is understandable from context)

I have to meet Mary tomorrow!

There is also another conjugation, ずに, which can be considered a formal version of ないで (and like ないで cannot be used with nouns and adjectives).

なくてもいい – don’t have to (like above, ないでもいい is also more or less acceptable instead)忙いそがしいなら、行いか なくてもいい です。 If you are busy, then you don’t have to go.

Or なくては(いけない/ならない) (cannot be rephrased to ないで)朝ごはんを食べなくてはいけないYou have to eat breakfast.

考（かんが）えずに私（わたし）は彼（かれ）に言（い）ってしまった。

I told him without thinking.

死（し）なずに済（す）んだのは幸運（こううん）だった。

I was lucky I ended up not dying.

Well and that’s all folks 🙂 I hope that next time you will have it easier deciding between なくて and ないで.

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I am mrnoone, and this was briefjapanese.

All my articles, including why は is pronounced as わ are archivized on my blog.