Consider the following example sentence (taken from an exercise sheet):
熱が下がらず苦しかった。
Now consider this sentence I made:
熱が下がらないで苦しかった。
What is the difference?
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@snailboat I consider the verb version and the adjective version of the て-binding of sentences the same. Like "Xをしないで、Y" (without doing X, Y) and "楽しくて、面白かった" (it was enjoyable and entertaining). They are both "and" in English. But maybe I don't really understand it right. In any case: I will change the title!– Rudy the ReindeerCommented Nov 25, 2014 at 6:25
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2 Answers
There are several ways of saying the same thing:
熱が下がらず苦しかった。 - literary or stiff expression
熱が下がらなくて苦しかった。 - casual / conversational.
熱が下がらないので苦しかった。 - using explicit ので "because".
I think ～ないで is used mostly for: ① negative imperative: "さわらないで！" (milder than さわるな！) ② in the form of ～ないでいる and ～ないでおく: "今は言わないでおこう" ③ before various verbs: "顔も洗わないで行っちゃった". In cases ② and ③, ないで can be substituted with ずに.
Based on these, 熱が下がらないで苦しかった and 熱が下がらずに苦しかった are both understandable but sound slightly clumsy or unnatural, perhaps because 苦しかった is not a verb. With a verb instead, 熱が下がらないで苦しんだ and 熱が下がらずに苦しんだ are both fairly correct (except that 苦しんだ is rather a literary expression).
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② could be generalized to any 補助動詞, no? Also, I think 「熱が下がらず苦しんだ」 (that is, with no に) can still work with the same reading as the に version (in addition to the conjunctive reading), can't it? Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 2:15
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Actually ないでいる / ないでおく are negative counterparts of ている / ておく (Compare: 彼は寝ている "He is sleeping", 彼は寝ていない "He is not sleeping", and 彼は寝ないでいる "He is staying up"). So I think you can say they are kinds of 補助動詞, though I don't know how most textbooks say about this.– isayamagCommented Nov 26, 2014 at 3:02
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To add to the other answer, I was taught that 〜なくて can imply a a causal relationship, while 〜ないで doesn't.
電車に乗れなくて、遅刻した。 - I was late because I couldn't get on the train.
シャワーを浴びないで、家を出た。 - I left the house without taking a shower. (but not because)
In these examples, the two are not interchangeable as far as I know.
Also, as the other answer mentioned, 〜ないでください is the standard form for negative imperative / requests and can't be substituted by 〜ず or 〜なくて.
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2More on 「〜なくて」 vs 「〜ないで」 can be found in ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs -- not sure that's exactly what the OP was asking about though. Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 4:44
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@DariusJahandarie Yes, thank you, this is helpful to me. Commented Nov 26, 2014 at 11:23