8

I know that the verb changes from 忘れる(to forget) to 忘れないで (don´t forget) but I can´t understand the いて at the end. At first, I thought it comes from the casual imperative form of いる as this post explained but it must have a verb in a て-form before to have this "keep...ing" meaning or to make the request.

This is from a song called "Name of Love", the lyrics are as follows:

未来で逢えるなら 忘れないでいて 僕のこと　本当のこと

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

You have found the correct question; this いて is a subsidiary verb that means "to be ～ing" or "to keep ～ing". What you are missing is that 忘れないで is basically a (negative) te-form. ないで can be followed by many subsidiary verbs including いる, おく, やる and くださる. See: Is ないで a te-form? and ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs

So 忘れないでいて means "(Please) don't forget me (for some time)" or "Keep remembering me."

Improve this answer
3
  • Oh, I didn't know that! I thought the only way to negate the て-form of 忘れる was with 忘れなくて c: Thank you!
    – Chrollo
    Commented Jun 13, 2019 at 5:34
  • @Chrollo Actually ないで is almost always the default choice after a verb. You can say 見ないでください ("Don't look at me please") but not 見なくてください.
    – naruto
    Commented Jun 13, 2019 at 5:38
  • Understood! Thank you c:
    – Chrollo
    Commented Jun 13, 2019 at 5:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .