て form to joining sentences but in negative sense


I'm learning about the uses of て-form, one of them is to joining sentences
like

> 家に帰ってTVを見る  
>  I come home and I watch TV

but if I want to apply a negative sense to the て-form, do I have to use the
**ないで** or the **なくて**? Does either one work?

> 家に帰らないでTVを見なかった  
>  I didn't come home and I didn't watch TV

> 家に帰らなくてTVを見なかった  
>  I didn't come home and I didn't watch TV




If you just want to list two things you did not do in parallel, you can use
[し](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/28096/5010):

> 家に帰らなかったし、TVも見なかった。  
>  I didn't return home, and I didn't watch TV, either.

The te-form doesn't work well for this purpose because it implies some
relationship between the two actions.

家に帰らないでTVを見なかった is a rather unnatural sentence, but it would mean "I didn't
watch TV without returning home." (or more literally, "Not-returning-home-and-
watch-TV, I didn't do it.") Effectively, this is a rather convoluted way of
saying "I watched TV only after returning home".

家に帰らなくてTVを見なかった usually means "I didn't watch TV since I didn't return home."
This is an example of te-form for reason. It's better to say
家に帰らなかったのでTVを見なかった, though.

家に帰ってTVを見なかった almost certainly means "I didn't return home and watch TV". A
sentence like this treats the two actions as one set. You need only one
negation (ない/not), both in Japanese and in English.

Some (more natural) examples:

> 箸を使わないで食べなかった。  
>  箸を使わずには食べなかった。  
>  I didn't eat it without using chopsticks. (= I never failed to use
> chopsticks when I ate it.)
>
> バスが来なくて学校に行けなかった。  
>  I couldn't go to school because the bus didn't come.

See:

  * [ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5925/5010)
  * [して行｛い｝かない versus しないで行｛い｝く](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30515/5010)




If you just want to list two things you did not do in parallel, you can use
[し](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/28096/5010):

> 家に帰らなかったし、TVも見なかった。  
>  I didn't return home, and I didn't watch TV, either.

The te-form doesn't work well for this purpose because it implies some
relationship between the two actions.

家に帰らないでTVを見なかった is a rather unnatural sentence, but it would mean "I didn't
watch TV without returning home." (or more literally, "Not-returning-home-and-
watch-TV, I didn't do it.") Effectively, this is a rather convoluted way of
saying "I watched TV only after returning home".

家に帰らなくてTVを見なかった usually means "I didn't watch TV since I didn't return home."
This is an example of te-form for reason. It's better to say
家に帰らなかったのでTVを見なかった, though.

家に帰ってTVを見なかった almost certainly means "I didn't return home and watch TV". A
sentence like this treats the two actions as one set. You need only one
negation (ない/not), both in Japanese and in English.

Some (more natural) examples:

> 箸を使わないで食べなかった。  
>  箸を使わずには食べなかった。  
>  I didn't eat it without using chopsticks. (= I never failed to use
> chopsticks when I ate it.)
>
> バスが来なくて学校に行けなかった。  
>  I couldn't go to school because the bus didn't come.

See:

  * [ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5925/5010)
  * [して行｛い｝かない versus しないで行｛い｝く](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30515/5010)

