Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
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なくて

なくて

なくて Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Phrase

Essential Meaning: Do not do X, and… / Is not X, and…

Construction: 

  • Verb negative informal + なくて
    • E.g. 食たべなくて [X does not eat, and…]
    • E.g. 話はなさなくて [X does not speak, and…]
  • い-Adjective Stem + くなくて
    • E.g. 高たかくなくて [X is expensive, and…]
  • (な-Adjective Stem / Noun) + [では / じゃ] + なくて
    • E.g. 静しずかじゃなくて [X is quiet, and…]
    • E.g. 先生せんせいじゃなくて [X is a teacher, and…]

Notes:

  • なくて connects a negative clause ending with ない to a main clause (via the negative て-Form), and it expresses the cause or reason for the action or state expressed in the main clause. This cause / effect relationship is relatively weak compared to phrases such as ないから and ないので.
    • E.g. 先生せんせいの説明せつめいがわからなくて困こまりました。[I didn’t understand the teacher’s explanation, so I was troubled.] In this example, not understanding the teacher’s explanation is the cause, and being troubled is the effect. This relationship is fairly indirect (i.e. not understanding didn’t necessarily directly cause the speaker to become troubled, but it at least contributed / led to the speaker becoming troubled.)
  • If there is no causal relationship between Sentence 1 and Sentence 2, ないで is generally a better choice than なくて to connect the clauses in a neutral manner. ないで does not have a causal implication.
    • E.g. 中田たなかさんは大阪おおさかに行いかないで京都きょうとに行いった。 [Mr. Okuda didn’t go to Osaka; he went to Kyoto.] Since this sentence does not express a causal relationship between Sentence 1 and Sentence 2, ないで is more appropriate than なくて.
  • なくても is a common construction that means “Even if X, Y“.
    • E.g. 小川こがわは頭あたまがいいから勉強べんきょうしなくても東京とうきょう大学だいがくに入はいれるよ。[Because Kogawa is smart, even if he doesn’t study he can get into Tokyo University.]
    • E.g. この難むずかしい漢字かんじは覚おぼえなくてもいいですか。[Is it OK even if I don’t memorize this difficult kanji?]
  • The hierarchy of directness is: ので > から > ないで > なくて. Since indirectness = politeness in Japanese, なくて is the most polite way of expressing a negative cause – effect relationship.
    • E.g. 朝あさ七時しちじに起おきられなくて会社かいしゃに遅おくれました。[I wasn’t able to get up at 7 AM, and I was late for work.] This example expresses the cause – effect relationship in a very indirect way. The lateness is implied to be caused by the failure to wake up at 7 AM, but this is not literally stated.
    • E.g. 朝あさ七時しちじに起おきられないで会社かいしゃに遅おくれました。[I wasn’t able to get up at 7 AM, and I was late for work.] As explained above, ないで does not necessary convey a causal relationship between getting up late and being late for work. But this causality can be inferred simply based on context.
    • E.g. 朝あさ七時しちじに起おきられなかったから会社かいしゃに遅おくれました。[Because I was unable to get up at 7 AM, I was late for work.]
    • E.g. 朝あさ七時しちじに起おきられなかったので会社かいしゃに遅おくれました。[Because I was unable to get up at 7 AM, I was late for work.]

Example Sentences:

日本にほんでは日本語にほんごが話はなせなくて残念ざんねんでした。[I couldn’t speak Japanese in Japan, so it was too bad.]

試験しけんは難むずかしくなくてよかったですね。[The exam was not difficult, so that was good.]

字じが上手じょうずじゃなくて恥はずかしいんです。[I’m poor at drawing Japanese characters, so I’m embarrassed.]

厳きびしい先生せんせいじゃなくてよかった。[He wasn’t a strict teacher, so that was good.]

WILD Examples:

The first line of this song is たよりなくてなさけない。[It’s unreliable, and it’s pathetic.] This line implies that Koiking is unreliable and therefore pathetic.

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