～ないで
without doing
～ないで describes doing one action without doing another. It is made by taking the ない-form of a verb and adding で: the ないで verb is the thing you did not do, and the main verb at the end is what you actually did.
It matches English “without ~ing” or “instead of ~ing”. Do not confuse it with ～なくて, which usually gives a reason (“because ... not”) rather than describing how an action was done.
1. Doing B without doing A
The most basic use: action B happens, and action A, which you would normally expect, does not.
朝ご飯を食べないで学校に行った。
“I went to school without eating breakfast.”
- 朝ご飯（あさごはん）= breakfast
- を = object marker
- 食べないで（たべないで）= without eating
- 学校（がっこう）= school
- に = destination marker
- 行った（いった）= went
2. Doing B instead of A
When the two actions are alternatives, ～ないで often translates better as “instead of”: you chose B in place of A.
昨日は勉強しないで、ゲームをしていた。
“Yesterday I played video games instead of studying.”
- 昨日（きのう）= yesterday
- は = topic marker
- 勉強しないで（べんきょうしないで）= without studying / instead of studying
- ゲーム = video game
- を = object marker
- していた = was doing / was playing
How to form it
Verb ない-form + で
- 食べる（たべる）= to eat → 食べないで（たべないで）= without eating
- 使う（つかう）= to use → 使わないで（つかわないで）= without using
- する = to do → しないで = without doing
Key idea
～ないで paints the background of the main action: “B happened, and A did not”. The verb before ないで is skipped and the verb at the end of the sentence is what really took place.
Built on the same stem
Updated .