N2 · Written Japanese · about 5 minutes
ず and ずに in written Japanese
the written negative ず
An old negative that writing still uses to join clauses: "did not …, and" — plus the fixed phrases built on it.
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Words you will need7
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- 動くto move; to work (of a machine)
- 相変わらずas ever; as usual
- 原因cause
- 思わずwithout meaning to; in spite of oneself
- 負けるto lose
- 事前beforehand; in advance
- 運休cancellation (of a train or bus service)
Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary
Understand
Rememberず sits where ない sits — except that する becomes せず — and at a comma it means "did not, and".
- Signal words
- ず、
- せず
- 思わず
- 相変わらず
- 少なからず
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Japanese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) ending
| go (u-verb) | 行かず |
| write (u-verb) | 書かず |
| eat (ru-verb) | 食べず |
| see (ru-verb) | 見ず |
| do (irregular) | せず |
| come (irregular) | 来ず |
| it did not rain, and … | 雨が降らず、 |
| without meaning to (fixed) | 思わず |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
ず attaches where ない does; する becomes せず and 来る becomes 来ず.
彼は誰にも相談せず、会社を辞めた。He left the company without consulting anyone.
At a comma, ず links a negative clause: "did not …, and".
薬を飲んでも熱が下がらず、病院へ行った。The fever did not go down even with medicine, so I went to the hospital.
Where speech says なくて, writing says ず.
電車が動かず、多くの人が駅で待たされた。The trains were not running, and many people were kept waiting at the stations.
Many fixed phrases are frozen ず-forms.
彼は相変わらず忙しそうだ。He seems as busy as ever.
Example sentences
予約が取れず、旅行を諦めた。We could not get a booking, so we gave up on the trip.
原因が分からず、調査が続いている。The cause is not known, and the investigation is continuing.
あまりに面白くて、思わず笑ってしまった。It was so funny that I laughed despite myself.
10 more example sentences
雨にも負けず、選手たちは走り続けた。Undaunted by the rain, the runners kept going.
今年は雪が少なく、客も来ず、スキー場は困っている。There has been little snow this year and no visitors either, and the ski resorts are struggling.
結論は出ず、会議は来週に持ち越された。No conclusion was reached, and the meeting was carried over to next week.
誰にも知られず、計画は進められた。The plan went ahead without anyone knowing.
試験に合格できず、来年もう一度受けることにした。I did not pass the exam, so I have decided to take it again next year.
彼女は相変わらず元気そうだった。She seemed as well as ever.
道が分からず、何度も人に聞いた。I did not know the way, so I had to ask people several times.
商品が届かず、客から問い合わせが相次いだ。The goods did not arrive, and enquiries from customers came one after another.
その言葉に、少なからず驚いた。I was more than a little surprised by those words.
犯人はまだ見つからず、警察が捜査を続けている。The culprit has not yet been found, and the police are continuing their investigation.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The negative of する is しない, so しず looks logical, and it is wrong. ず comes from the older language, where the negative stem of する was せ, and it has kept that stem: せず, and likewise せずに and せざるを得ない.
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
ず is the classical negative, and modern writing keeps it as a joining form. It attaches where ない does — 行かない gives 行かず, 食べない gives 食べず — and the two irregular verbs keep their old stems: する becomes せず, and 来る becomes 来ず. The same stem, and the same trap, turn up in ずに, "without doing", which is used in speech as well and has a topic of its own; this one is about the bare ず of written Japanese.
At a comma, ず、 is the negative partner of the continuative form: where an affirmative clause ends on 行き、, a negative one ends on 行かず、 — "did not go, and …". Speech would say なくて or ないで; a report, a news item or an essay says ず.
Very often the clause with ず is also the reason for what follows: 雨が降らず、水が不足している, "there has been no rain, and water is short". Japanese does not need a separate word for "because" here; the order of the two clauses carries it, just as it does with なくて.
Older phrases built on ず are everywhere and are worth recognising as such: 思わず, "without meaning to"; 相変わらず, "as ever"; 少なからず, "not a little"; 知らず知らず, "without realising". They are frozen forms, and a learner who knows the source reads them as grammar rather than as a list of words.
A closer look
ぬ and ざる, the rest of the family
ず is one form of the classical negative, and two more survive. ぬ stands before a noun in fixed phrases: 見知らぬ人, "a stranger"; 知らぬ間に, "before one knew it"; 思わぬ結果, "an unexpected result". ざる survives mainly in ざるを得ない.
The polite negative ません belongs to the same family: its ん is a worn-down ぬ. Seen together, these forms stop being a list of oddities and become one old negative that modern Japanese still uses in several places.
Exceptions and special cases1
Exception
When the verb is ある
then the ず-form あらず survives only in fixed phrases; the ordinary written negative link is なく: 問題はなく、….
特に問題はなく、作業は予定どおり進んでいる。There are no particular problems, and the work is on schedule.
Why? Modern Japanese replaces the negative of ある with the adjective ない, and a written link from ない is its く-form.
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
Fixed phrases built on ず
Many everyday words are frozen ず-forms, and they read more easily once that is clear: 思わず, "without meaning to"; 相変わらず, "unchanged, as ever"; 少なからず, "not a little"; 知らず知らず, "without realising".
知らず知らずのうちに、日本語で考えるようになっていた。Without realising it, I had started thinking in Japanese.