Sunday, December 16, 2018

-naide ~ないで

In Japanese, naide ないで is a phrase created from the auxiliary adjective nai ない plus the particle de で. It has a number of different functions, the most common one being to ask people not do something.

Tabenaide!! 食べないで!! - Kaban-chan from anime Kemono Friends けものフレンズ
Anime: "Kemono Friends," Kemono Furenzu けものフレンズ
  • tabenai-de kudasai! 食べないでください!
    Please don't eat me!
  • Kaban-Chan.

Negative Request

The most common use of naide ないで is to ask people not to do something. What this means exactly varies. It can range from "please don't do this," to "I don't want you to do this," to "stahp! Don't do that!"
  • taberu 食べる
    To eat.
  • tabenai 食べない
    To not eat.
  • tabenaide!!! 食べないで!!!
    Don't eat me!!!
    (or don't eat this/that/him/her/etc.)
  • korosu 殺す
    To kill.
  • korosanaide 殺さないで
    Don't kill [me].
  • shinu 死ぬ
    To die.
  • shinanaide 死なないで
    Don't die.
    Please don't die! Don't get yourself killed! Come back alive, MC-kun, the love of my life!!! When this all ends, let's get married. Etc.
  • baka ni suru 馬鹿にする
    To take someone for an idiot. To make a fool of someone.
  • baka ni shinaide 馬鹿にしないで
    Don't make a fool [of me].
    Stop lying to me. Stop joking. (specially when someone says something absurd, like their classmate is a God or something like that.)

馬鹿にしないでください・・・・・・こんな子供向けの問題 quote from manga Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen かぐや様は告らせたい~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~ (chapter 4)
Manga: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~ かぐや様は告らせたい~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~ (chapter 4)
  • Context: Kaguya is asked a quiz question that's too easy for a genius like her, and congratulated after getting it right.
  • baka ni shinaide kudasai......
    馬鹿にしないでください・・・・・・
    [Don't take me for an idiot.]
  • konna komodo-muke no mondai
    tokete touzen desu...
    こんな子供向けの問題
    解けて当然です・・・
    A question [made] for kids like this,
    solving [it] is [only] natural...
  • watashi no koto wasurenaide 私のこと忘れないで
    Don't forget about me.
    (phrase used in romances before lovers part ways.)
  • uso wo tsukanaide 嘘をつかないで
    Don't lie. Don't tell falsehoods.
  • nanimo shinaide 何もしないで
    Don't do anything.
  • kega shinaide 怪我しないで
    Don't get hurt.
    Don't injury [yourself.]

One thing about these negative requests is that, they're not just negative in the grammatical sense, they're also negative in the "this sounds negative" sense. Because you only tell someone to "not do this" if they're doing or about to do something you don't want them to do. Which means some of these words are used in some pretty sad contexts:
  • okoranaide 怒らないで
    Don't get angry [at me].
  • naguranaide 殴らないで
    Don't hit [me].
  • sawaganaide 騒がないで
    Don't make a fuss.
  • kikanaide 聞かないで
    Don't ask.
  • minaide 見ないで
    Don't look.
  • konaide 来ないで
    Don't come [toward me].
    Don't approach [me].
  • toranaide 撮らないで
    Don't take [photos/videos].
  • hashiranaide 走らないで
    Don't run.
  • nigenaide 逃げないで
    Don't run away.
  • nenaide 寝ないで
    Don't sleep.
  • tatakawanaide 戦わないで
    Don't fight. Don't battle.
  • barasanaide バラさないで
    Don't tell (others something that's a secret.)
    Don't snitch. Don't expose.
  • akiramenaide 諦めないで
    Don't give up.

But then again, sometimes it's because the character is just hates whomever they're talking to.
  • kiyasuku hanashikakenaide 気安く話しかけないで
    Don't start talking [to me] familiarly.
    • This is Japanese for:
    • Don't talk to me unless it's something important.
    • No chit-chat.

Naide Kudasai ないでください

Generally speaking, naide is synonymous with naide kudasai ないでください, although the nuance is slightly different.

, and naide kure ないでくれ, although the nuance is different.
  • sawaru 触る
    To touch.
  • sawaranaide 触らないで
    Don't touch [me].
  • sawaranai-de kudasai 触らないでください
    Please don't touch [me]. (polite.)

Naide Kure ないでくれ

The word kure くれ, imperative form of the auxiliary kureru くれる, can be used instead of kudasai ください. Unlike kudasai, kure isn't polite.
  • sawaranai-de kure 触らないでくれ
    Please don't touch [me].

Naide Kureru ないでくれる

The auxiliary kureru can be used with naide too. But in this case, in anime, it often transmits a rather annoyed sentiment.
  • sawaranai-de kureru? 触らないでくれる?
    Can you please not touch [me]?
    (seriously, piss off you creep.)

Naide Moraemasuka ないでもらえますか

The word maraemasuka is the doubt particle ka か plus moraemasu もらえます, which is the polite conjugation of moraeru もらえる, which is the potential conjugation of morau もらう. Basically:
  • morau もらう
    To have.
  • moraeru もらえる
    Can have. May have.
  • moraemasu もらえます
    Can have. May have. (polite.)
  • moraemasuka もらえますか
    Can have? May have? (polite.)

When combined with naide, the phrase naide moraemasuka is used to politely ask if you can have someone else not do something for you. For example:

あの… 高木さん、このことは誰にも言わないでもらえますか… quote from manga Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん
Manga: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん
  • ano... Takagi-san,
    あの… 高木さん、
    Erm... Takagi.
  • kono koto wa darenimo
    iwanai-de
    moraemasuka...

    このことは誰にも
    言わないで
    もらえますか…
    May [I] have you not talk about this thing to anyone...?
    • Can you please not talk about this to anyone...?
    • Can you keep this between us two...?
    • Can you keep this a secret...?

Naide Hoshii ないでほしい

The word naide can also come before other auxiliaries like hoshii 欲しい:
  • kenka shinai-de hoshii ケンカしないでほしい
    [I] want [y'all] not to quarrel.
    I'd like it if you two didn't fight.

You may notice this all resembles the te-form of verbs: sawatte kudasaiってください means "please touch." The kudasai goes directly after the te-form, the same way it goes directly after the naide.

Furthermore, sawatteって alone can mean a "touch" as a command, in the imperative. Likewise, you could say sawaranaide is a negative command rather than a negative request, a negative imperative.

So naide is practically a te-form, isn't it? But wait... nai already has a te-form! It's nakute! Why does nai have two te-forms? And most importantly: what's the difference between naide and nakute?

ないで vs. なくて

Basically, there are cases naide ないで and nakute なくて are interchangeable: you can use one or the other, because their meanings overlap, but that's not always. For example, in this case they mean the same thing:
  • makenakute yokatta 負けなくて良かった
    makenai-de yokatta 負けないで良かった
    Having not lost was good.
    [It's a] good [thing I] didn't lose.

One big difference between that naide ないで can be used with auxiliary verbs, but nakute can't.
  • makenai-de-iru 負けないでいる
    To be not losing.
  • makenakute-iru 負けなくている
    (wrong!)

The rule above includes kudasai ください. That is, although kudasai looks like an i-adjective, because it ends with -i ~い, it's actually a conjugation of the verb kudasaru くださる, so you use it after naide, not after nakute.
  • makenai-de kudasai 負けないでください
    Please don't lose!
  • makenakute kudasai 負けなくてください.
    (wrong!)

Different Ways to Use

To understand naide ないで better, let's take a look at the following phrases:
  1. shukudai wo shinai-de okorareta 宿題をしないで怒られた
    Got scolded for not having done the homework.
  2. shukudai wo shinai-de gakkou ni itta 宿題をしないで学校にいった
    Went to school not having done the homework.
  3. shukudai wo shinai-de geemu bakari shiteiru 宿題をしないでゲームばかりしている
    Playing games all the time not having done the homework.

All three of them share the first part: shukudai wo shinai-de, "not having done the homework." But the meaning is slightly different in each.

In the first example, we have the classic consequential te-form. You "got scolded," okorareta. Why? Because you did "not do the homework," shukudai wo shinai. In this case, and in this case alone, you can replace naide for nakute.
  • shukudai wo shinakute okorareta 宿題をしなくて怒られた
    Got scolded for not having done the homework.
    Homework do not, thus got scolded.

In the second example, the de particle is joining two parallel things: the situation and the action. The situation is that you did "not do the homework." And the action is that you "went to school," gakkou ni itta. In other words, having not done the homework, you went to school.

A more direct example:
  • kekkon shinai-de shinda 結婚しないで死んだ
    Not having married, died.
    Died without having married.

But a phrase like this has a bunch of problems.

First off, it's ambiguous with "died of not marrying," even though something weird like that is pretty unlikely to be the case. Second off, although it's grammatically correct, it sounds weird, and there's a lot of better ways to say something like that:
  • kekkon sezu ni shinda 結婚せずに死んだ
    Died without marrying.
  • kekkon shinai mama shinda 結婚しないまま死んだ
    Died still not married.

Anyway, the third example, although grammatically identical, has the nuance of a complaint instead. The format, "you don't do X, you keep doing Y instead," is often always a complaint about somebody's behavior.
  • benkyou shinai-de anime bakkari miteru 勉強しないでアニメばっかり見てる
    Doesn't study, watches anime all the time.

You can also reverse the phrase pattern above to ask someone to stop doing something and go do something else instead.
  • anime bakkari minai-de benkyou shiro アニメばっかり見ないで勉強しろ
    Don't watch anime all the time, go study.

Further Reading

References

Adjectives

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