Naide vs Nakute in Japanese: Without Doing, Please Don't and Because Not

How to form naide and nakute

Both forms start from the plain negative, the nai form. For naide, add de: ikanai becomes ikanaide. For nakute, drop the final i and add kute, exactly as you would with any i-adjective: ikanai becomes ikanakute.

The crucial difference in formation is that naide exists only for verbs. I-adjectives, na-adjectives and nouns have only the nakute form. That alone settles many questions: samukunaide is never correct, only samukunakute.

Naide: doing something without doing something else

The first job of naide is describing the circumstances of an action. The sentence has one main action, and naide tells you what was not done while it happened: I went out without an umbrella, I answered without looking at my notes. The subject of both parts is the same person.

The second job is choosing one action instead of another. Instead of taking the bus, I walked. Here too the same person does, or does not do, both things, and the naide clause names the option that was not chosen.

In every example the naide clause describes the same person's behaviour, and there is no cause and effect. Not eating breakfast did not cause the leaving; it describes how the leaving happened.

Naide kudasai and casual naide

The most familiar use of naide is the negative request. Verb nai form plus de kudasai means please don't. It is polite enough for signs, shops and most conversations. Among friends, kudasai is dropped and naide alone works as don't, usually with a soft or pleading tone.

Naide also combines with hoshii and moraemasen ka to make softer requests. Naide hoshii means I'd rather you didn't, and naide itadakemasen ka is a very polite way to ask someone not to do something, useful with neighbours and customers.

Nakute: because something did not happen

Nakute links a negative cause to a result. Because the bus did not come, I was late. Because I could not understand, I was troubled. The result is usually something that happened outside your control: a feeling, a state or an outcome, such as komarimashita, I was stuck, or zannen desu, it's a shame.

Two restrictions follow from that. First, the second half cannot be a request, an order, an invitation or your own decision. You cannot say ame ga yamanakute, uchi ni imashō, let's stay in because the rain hasn't stopped. For that, use nai kara or nai node. Second, the two parts often have different subjects, which is impossible with naide.

Nakute with adjectives and nouns: not A but B

With adjectives and nouns, nakute is the only negative te form. It can give a reason, as with verbs: the room wasn't quiet, so I couldn't concentrate. It can also simply link a negative description to the next one: this soup isn't spicy and is easy to eat.

With nouns and na-adjectives, ja nakute has a very common corrective use: not A but B. You say what something is not, then what it is. This is how you correct a misunderstanding politely, and you will use it constantly when ordering, checking names or fixing mistakes.

With verbs, the not A but B idea is usually expressed with naide or with no de wa naku: kaimono ni itta no de wa naku, tomodachi ni ai ni itta, it wasn't that I went shopping; I went to see a friend.

Nakute mo ii and related patterns

Adding mo ii to nakute gives you don't have to or it's fine not to. It is the natural answer to a question asking whether something is necessary, and the polite version is nakute mo ii desu or, more politely, nakute mo kamaimasen.

Its opposite is must: nakute wa ikenai or nakute wa naranai, very often heard in the shorter spoken forms nakucha and nakya. Many learners meet nakereba naranai first, which means the same thing.

Zu ni: the written version of naide

Zu ni means without doing, just like naide, but it is more formal and more common in writing, news and careful speech. To make it, take the nai form and replace nai with zu ni: tabenai becomes tabezu ni, ikanai becomes ikazu ni.

There is one irregular form to learn: suru becomes sezu ni, not shizu ni. Kuru becomes kozu ni. Zu ni does not form requests, so there is no zu ni kudasai; for requests you still use naide kudasai.

You will also see zu on its own, with a comma, working like nakute to give a cause in written Japanese: yoku wakarazu, komatta, not understanding well, I was at a loss.

Common mistakes with naide and nakute

• Samukunaide or shizuka ja naide: adjectives and nouns have no naide form. Use samukunakute and shizuka ja nakute.
• Wasurenakute kudasai for please don't forget. Requests always use naide: wasurenaide kudasai.
• Tabenakute dekaketa for I went out without eating. Without doing is naide: tabenaide dekaketa.
• Densha ga konaide, okureta for the train didn't come, so I was late. A cause with a different subject needs nakute: densha ga konakute, okureta.
• Putting a request after nakute: jikan ga nakute, isoide kudasai. Use nai kara or nai node before requests and suggestions.
• Shizu ni for without doing. The zu form of suru is sezu ni.