This useful grammatical pattern is found around the JLPT N3 level. Even if you are a beginner, take a moment to review a few of these examples. It means, “Without doing X, (I do Y).”
What is ずに？
If you know the 「～ないで」 construction (without doing…), this is a more formal and concise way. 「ない」 is the regular negative ender plus the location particle 「で」. ～ずに and ～ないで are basically interchangeable.
Let’s break down these two characters.
- ず is a negative ender. It is used in more formal situations than the more common negative ender ない, but these basically mean the same thing:
- 食べない — not eat
- 食べず — not eat
- に is the particle that shows direction or the target
Construction of ずに
Just replace 「ない」 with 「ずに」.
Exceptions:
- 「する」 (to do; to cause) becomes 「せずに」
- 「くる」 (to come) becomes 「こず」
Useful Examples
朝ご飯を食べずに学校に行った。
(I) went to school without eating breakfast.
Vocabulary & Notes
- 朝ご飯 — breakfast
- を — direct object marker
- 食べずに — without eating
- 学校に — to school [学校 (school) + に (direction particle)]
- 行った — went [plain past of 行く (to go)]
彼は何も言わずに立ち上がった。
Without saying a word, he stood up.
Vocabulary & Notes
- 彼 — he
- は — topic particle
- 何も — nothing at all
- 言わずに — without saying
- 立ち上がった — stood up [compound verb: 立つ (to stand) + 上がる (to go up)]
何も考えずに服を買った。
Without thinking, I bought some clothes.
Vocabulary & Notes
- 何も — nothing at all
- 考えずに — without thinking
- 服 — clothes
- 買った — bought [past of 買う (to buy)]
勉強せずにテストを受けた。
Without studying, I took the test.
Vocabulary & Notes
- 勉強せずに — without studying
- テスト — test
- 受けた — took [past of 受ける, used with taking tests]
