日本語道場

Nihongo Dojo — N3 → N2

Grammar

N3

～抜きで

~nuki de

without, omitting

When to use it

Use ～抜きで when stating that something normally expected or included has been deliberately left out — pleasantries, tax, a third party, emotion. It is common in business speech and writing (メール, 議事録, 見積書) where you want to signal "let's dispense with X." Compare ～なしで, which is a neutral statement of absence; ～抜きで implies X was removed or skipped on purpose.

Formation

  • Noun + 抜きで / 抜きに — 前置き抜きで、税抜きで。The core (and essentially only) pattern.
  • Noun + 抜きにして — slightly heavier, often before a request or imperative: 建前抜きにして話そう。
  • Noun + 抜きには〜ない — "cannot do without X": 現地法人抜きには進められない。
  • Attributive: Noun + 抜きの + Noun — 税抜きの価格、根回し抜きの決定。
  • Verbs and adjectives do not attach directly; nominalize first (説明抜きで, not ×説明する抜きで). Fossilized: 冗談抜きで, お世辞抜きで, 税抜き.

Examples

  • I'll skip the preamble and get straight to the main point.

  • Flattery aside, this proposal is very well put together.

  • Please prepare the quotation using pre-tax figures.

  • I'd rather avoid negotiating directly, bypassing the agent.

  • This is a matter to judge on the numbers alone, emotions aside.