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JLPT N3Expressions

～ぬきで／～ぬきに— Leaving Out; Without

Indicates doing something while omitting or excluding what would normally be included. It means 'without' in the sense of leaving something out. With が/は it can also express that something is impossible without X (〜ぬきには〜ない). The modifying form is 〜ぬきの.

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Pro lessonUNIT 79 · EXPRESSIONS

Structure · 形

[Noun] + ぬきで／ぬきに　( … ぬきには …ない for 'impossible without')

Examples · 例文

  • 今日は仕事の話ぬきで楽しみましょう。

    Kyou wa shigoto no hanashi nuki de tanoshimimashou.

    Let's enjoy ourselves today without talking about work.

    話 + ぬきで means proceeding while leaving out work talk.

  • 朝食ぬきで学校に行った。

    Choushoku nuki de gakkou ni itta.

    I went to school without breakfast.

    朝食 + ぬきで shows breakfast being omitted from the routine.

  • 彼の協力ぬきには、成功できなかっただろう。

    Kare no kyouryoku nuki ni wa, seikou dekinakatta darou.

    Without his cooperation, we probably couldn't have succeeded.

    協力 + ぬきには … ない expresses that success was impossible without it.

Usage notes · 注意

  • Register: neutral, common in conversation.
  • ぬきには〜ない = 'cannot ... without X'.
  • Use ぬきの before a noun (例: 冗談ぬきの話).

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～ぬきで／～ぬきに is tested against.

vsなしで

ぬきで implies deliberately omitting something normally expected/included; なしで is a plainer 'without', simply noting the absence of something.

vsを除いて

ぬきで means doing an action while leaving X out; を除いて means 'except for X' when listing or excluding items from a set.

More expressions

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