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I am still not so clear with the difference between '.....しないで.....’ and '....しなくて....' . Could you please explain them for me, and give me some examples?

oals
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Null
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    Both are negative て forms. I consider them to be identical in meaning yet never interchangeable. Which one you need to use, depends on what follows. – oals Oct 06 '16 at 07:54
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    Related: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/5925/%e3%81%aa%e3%81%84%e3%81%a7-vs-%e3%81%aa%e3%81%8f%e3%81%a6-combining-phrases-with-negative-verbs – G-Cam Oct 06 '16 at 12:45
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    Also related and more helpful: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25246/why-dont-we-use-%ef%bd%9e%e3%81%aa%e3%81%8f%e3%81%a6-instead-of-%ef%bd%9e%e3%81%aa%e3%81%84%e3%81%a7 – G-Cam Oct 06 '16 at 12:49

2 Answers2

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しないで is an order to not do something. しなくて means "to not do is...".

これをしないで！ don't do that!

これをしなくてもいい。 you don't have to do that.

これをしなくても本当に大丈夫ですか？ is it really ok for you to not do that?

EDIT
I forgot to mention the following.

しないで can also be used to connect 2 statements in a similar fashion as しなくて but usually used in slightly different ways. I would say that しなくて tends to be more of a cause and effect while しないで to connect rather unrelated statements.

朝ごはんを食べないで学校に行きました。
I didn't eat my breakfast and went to school.

朝ごはんを食べなくて腹が減ってきた。
I didn't eat breakfast and now I'm hungry.

stack reader
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    It's not that simple... http://www.alc.co.jp/jpn/article/faq/03/2.html　・　http://nihon5ch.net/contents/bbs-study/old/mie-bbs.cgi?s=30 – Chocolate Oct 06 '16 at 02:29
  • So basically, when not used as imperative, しないで is a plain "and", while しなくて indicates more of a "because" relationship. Would that be correct to say? – obskyr Dec 19 '16 at 01:58
  • @obskyr not necessarily. It depend on context. しないで could also be replaced with "then" for example. – stack reader Dec 19 '16 at 02:04
  • Ah, right, what I meant was more along the lines of a being a plain sequence. – obskyr Dec 19 '16 at 02:05
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しなくて　because I do not

しないで　without I do

Takahiro Waki
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