TAKOBOTO

formation: take the negative root (ない形）and replace the final ~ない　with ~ず

例）

　　書く　-> 書か「ない」 -> 書かず（に）
　　見る　->　見「ない」 -> 見ず
　　来る　-> 来ず　（読み方：こず）
　　する　-> せず　　

Compared to the "naide" form, this one is used with a more negative connection to the thing you didn't do (as you would regret that you didn't do something).

例）

昨日学校へ行かず、ゲームセンターで遊んでしまった。

Author: maki

To nellyaudrey You can' t do a negative of a negative form in Japanese. You'll only be mishunderstood. The Japanese are more simple minded. The negative of a negative is positive, so say it positive! 朝ご飯食べて学校に来ました。I came to school having eaten breakfast. Anyway, if you want to say your negative-negative sentence at any cost the closer sentence you can use is a negation of the all positive sentence. 朝ご飯食べずに学校に来ましたと違います.It's not true that I came to school without eating breakfast.

Author: RBY

how do you say the negative version of 食べず is it 食べずじゃない? just for the purpose of saying something like, i didn't come to school without eating. 学校に食べずじゃないで来た．or would you just neg kuru? like, 学校を食べずに来なかった．

Author: nellyaudrey

行かず maybe 行きませんか so sw are right,ず〜＝ない

Author: ngonhan2k7

It may of interest to note that in some dialect, 行かず would mean 行こう(let's go).

Author: bamboo4

I think ず is a classical form of ない that still comes up, as in 知らず. 〜ずに means 〜ないで, and is used mostly in writting, although I heard it spoken sometimes.

Author: sw

Isnt 〜ずに A more formal form, not a contraction?

Author: shiho-chan

〜ずに is the shortened form of 〜ないで

Author: K

聞き返すことも忘れずに！ Don't forget to ask in return. (Example: "How are you?" "Fine, thanks. And you?") This is from a Japanese English teacher's lesson.

Author: Watari

you can also shorten 〜ずに into 〜ず.

Author: 誠

[Vn-zu] seems to be the same article, except with more examples and so on, and placed in the level 2 entries...

Author: Shadowstar

Seems to be more official than plain ~[なくて] form. AFAIK, it's quite often used in writing.

Author: mathrick