In our previous NDL, we were talking about the JLPT N1 grammar point なしに.

I also talked a bit about 梨 (なし // Asian pears) and 洋梨 (ようなし // Western pears).

All of this なし talk got me thinking that we should have a lesson that looks at なし the way I personally use it most frequently: To say "without (something)."

I know what you're thinking: Isn't that the meaning we just looked at in the last lesson?

Well, yeah... sort of. But JLPT grammar points have strict usage rules. I think you'll find that the なし I'm talking about in this lesson is a bit more flexible...

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なし ＝ 無し ＝ without

I find myself using this word a lot in sentences like this one:

水２つください。あ、氷なしでお願いします。
みず　ふたつ　ください。　あ、　こおり　なし　で　おねがいします。
Two waters, please. Oh, with no ice, please.
Literally: “water + two (things) + please. + ah, + ice + without + で + please.”

Watch out, kanji kids: The kanji for water (水) and ice (氷) are very similar!

Anyway, the なしで in the above sentence is SO useful, especially if you're a picky eater. All you have to do is say:

...[unwanted item] なしでお願いします
...without [unwanted item], please.

That doesn't mean that customizing orders will be a walk in the park. If you've been living in Japan for any length of time, you will have realized by now that they are not very cool about customizing things, especially food orders.

Getting a drink with no ice should be no problem, though.

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We can also use なし to say that we did something without doing something else, like we were looking at in the last lesson.

The difference here is that we don't necessarily need to say なしに. For example:

えっ、朝から夜まで休憩なしですか？
えっ、　あさ　から　よる　まで　きゅうけい　なし　です　か？
What? You went without taking a break all day? // What? We don’t get any breaks all day?
Literally: “huh?, + morning + from + night + until + rest / break + without + ですか?”

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If anything, I find myself using なしで a lot more than I use なしに：

パナマはビザなしで半年も滞在できるんだよ。
パナマ　は　ビザ　なし　で　はんとし　も　たいざい　できる　んだよ。
You can stay in Panama without a visa for half a year.
Literally: “Panama + は + visa + without + で + half year + も + stay + can do + んだ + よ.”
Note: The も in this sentence makes it clear that the speaker believes this to be a long time (which it is, for visas). I thought about putting "without a visa for a whole half a year" or something like that, but I didn't like how it sounded.

面倒な手続きは一切なしで会員登録できます。
めんどう　な　てつづき　は　いっさい　なし　で　かいいん　とうろく　できます。
You can register to become a member without any troublesome formalities whatsoever.
Literally: “troublesome / annoying + procedure / formalities + は + (not) at all + without + で + member + registration + can do.”

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In the following sentence, we have a に after なし, but it's not the なしに we saw in the last lesson.

Rather, we just have the phrase ～にする coming after なし. The phrase ～にする (in this case) means something along the lines of "decide on:"

お金ないから新婚旅行はなしにしようよ。
おかね　ない　から　しんこん　りょこう　は　なし　に　しよう　よ。
Since we don’t have any money, let’s just not go on a honeymoon. // Since we don't have money, let's just skip going on a honeymoon.
Literally: “money + don’t have + because + honeymoon (=newly-wed + trip) + は + without + に + let’s do + よ.”

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That's all for this one.

If you want to get some practice with this phrase, or if you simply want to hear other people using it, then I recommend going to a Subway in Japan. Then you can order your sandwich "[unwanted item (e.g. tomatoes)] なしで." ^^