Is 隠れていなくて correct?


I found this in a phrase: 隠れていなくて. I can translate it simply as "aren't
hiding" or "were hiding"? By the way, is it correct or is 隠れていません better?

By the way, the whole phrase is

> お前はやはり私のような強いものの後ろに隠れていなくてはな。




It's fine. 〜なくては and its contracted version 〜なくちゃ are commonly used to mean
roughly "must/should do", with following verbs such as いけない or ならない omitted.
In your example, the omitted verb would go before the particle な:

> お前はやはり私のような強いものの後ろに隠れてい **なくては(いけない)** な

I think the speaker is telling the listener that they'd better hide behind
someone strong, like the speaker. It sounds like the speaker is telling the
listener that they're weak.

Compare 〜なければ and its contracted forms 〜なけりゃ／〜なきゃ, which can similarly be used
with the following ならない (or いけない, etc.) omitted. The following verb is
literally the consequence of not taking some action--in this case, hiding--and
it's almost always something negative. It can be omitted because the listener
can imagine what it is.

