Tuesday 15 March 2016

translation - What does 使わずに mean?


I could not figure out the meaning of it. What does 使わずに mean?



うちに使わずに眠っているピアノが一台ある。




Answer



使わずに means "without using".


The ~ずに pattern is used to indicate absence of an action(since ずに is added only to verbs). You add ずに to the negative root [ない] form of a verb. Eg:



歌{うた}う- 歌{うた}わない- 歌{うた}わずに


帰{かえ}る- 帰{かえ}らない- 帰{かえ}らずに


As mentioned in the comment on the answer above the [~ずに] pattern is similar to the [~ないで] pattern.You can check these links out


JGram


MaggieSensei


So, the translation(not literal) of your sentence according to me is-


There's an unused piano at my home/I have an unused piano lying at my home.


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