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I could not figure out the meaning of it. What does 使わずに mean?

うちに使わずに眠っているピアノが一台ある。

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2 Answers 2

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使わずに means "without using".

The ~ずに pattern is used to indicate absence of an action(since ずに is added only to verbs). You add ずに to the negative root [ない] form of a verb. Eg:

歌{うた}う- 歌{うた}わない- 歌{うた}わずに

帰{かえ}る- 帰{かえ}らない- 帰{かえ}らずに

As mentioned in the comment on the answer above the [~ずに] pattern is similar to the [~ないで] pattern.You can check these links out

JGram

MaggieSensei

So, the translation(not literal) of your sentence according to me is-

There's an unused piano at my home/I have an unused piano lying at my home.

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EDIT: 使わずに means 使わないで which just means "without doing." You can look up examples on the web. It's a combination of the different form of the verb for negatives + に.

Examples:

  • する - せず
  • 食べる - 食べず
  • 帰る - 帰らず
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    It means 使わないで, not just 使わない or 使わなくて.
    – istrasci
    Feb 1, 2017 at 20:57
  • corrected it. @istraci thanks for that, i had always thought ないで was a command for "not doing."
    – david
    Feb 1, 2017 at 22:51
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    The OP might also have trouble understanding what 使わずに is doing in the sentence if they can't parse it properly.
    – user1478
    Feb 2, 2017 at 3:35
  • ^ そうですね、「うちに」が何を修飾するか分かりにくいかもしれませんね
    – chocolate
    Feb 2, 2017 at 9:49

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