Asking without spicy / i-adjective

Question

When I order something in a restaurant, I'd like to ask without spicy.

• I hear I have to use : 辛【から】いのぬきで or 辛いのなしで.

• Why 辛くないで is not correct?

Thank you !

Answer 1

This で is a method/means/condition marker, and it requires a noun before it. -抜き and -無し are suffixes that produce nouns which also work as no-adjectives. For details, see: What does 「なし」in 「問題なし」 mean?

Grammatically, 辛くない is not a noun phrase. It either modifies a following noun (eg 辛くない料理), or forms a predicate at the end of a sentence/clause (eg この料理は辛い。).

The easiest fix is to add the pronoun の ("one") after 辛くない.

辛くないので。

Answer 2

I don't think it's incorrect. Whoever serving you would still get your message and understand you. If you wanto say 辛くないで,

辛くない，で　or 辛くないので is more accurate.