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The original sentence is:

俺が呆れてものを言えないでいると、ハルヒはディジタルカメラを手にして、記念に写真を撮っておこうと言い出した。

I don't think the で in ～ないでいると～ indicates て形 but rather I have the feeling that ～ないでいると～ shows two situations that almost occur at the same time.

I would translate the above sentence as:

While still in daze that I could not say/reply anything, Haruhi took a digital camera and said 'Let's take some photos as souvenirs'

or literally as:

While I was in a situation where I could not express my astonishment, (before I could do anything), Haruhi took a digital camera and said "Let's tale some photos as souvenirs."

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  • Out of curiosity, do you have the chapter and page number of the source?
    – akj
    Sep 18, 2015 at 15:39
  • @akj Sure, it's 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱・谷川 流・角川スニーカー文庫、第四章・１２９頁・(右から)6欄。
    – 永劫回帰
    Sep 18, 2015 at 16:34
  • The part "While I was in a situation where ~~" is excellent and so is the part "before I could do anything".
    – user4032
    Sep 19, 2015 at 0:19
  • @l'électeur Thank you for confirming that I understood, at least partially, the sentence.
    – 永劫回帰
    Sep 19, 2015 at 7:55

1 Answer 1

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ないで is the casual version of ず(に), which is similar to the なくて form, but instead of meaning "didn't do (verb), and...," it means "without doing (verb), ...."

何も言わずに走った。
何も言わず、走った。
何も言わないで走った。
Ran without saying anything.

As opposed to:

何も言わなくて走った。
Didn't say anything and ran.

Of course the いると part makes it more complicated to translate, as I don't think "without" fits in naturally. I think you basically got it, but here's my try:

俺が呆れてものを言えないでいると…
While I was still shocked and unable to speak...

Tae Kim's explanation of ないで and ず(に)

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  • 1
    OP's TL appears to capture the nuance of the original more accurately than yours. I do not see the continuity of the situation expressed in yours. 「～～ないでいる」 always means that the situation where ~~ is not happening lasts a while. It lasts long enough for another action to take place.
    – user4032
    Sep 18, 2015 at 23:57
  • Yeah, I get that sense that the situation persists for a while due to いる, but I'm having trouble phrasing naturally in English. I thought "while" would convey that, but I'll add "still" in as well.
    – Darcinon
    Sep 19, 2015 at 0:12
  • Thank you for answer, nevertheless, what throw me a bit off here is not really ないで but more the combination with いると and the fact that 呆れても is before のを (That's why I said ...where I could not express my astonishment... but I am not sure if it is the right interpretation). But my question may not be very clear about that.
    – 永劫回帰
    Sep 19, 2015 at 8:02
  • Oh, I interpreted that as being 飽きれて and 物を言えないでいる, so "shocked" and "without being able to say a thing." The と essentially means "when."
    – Darcinon
    Sep 19, 2015 at 17:05
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    @変幻出没 Might you have mistakenly parsed the sentence as 「俺が呆れても、のを言えないでいると」 instead of 「俺が呆れて、物を言えないでいると」? That might attribute to your confusion. 「物を言う」 is an expression itself: jisho.org/word/%E7%89%A9%E3%82%92%E8%A8%80%E3%81%86
    – akj
    Sep 20, 2015 at 18:58

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