Japanese with Manga

Don't want you to misunderstand with 〜ないでほしい

Grammar Explanation: Want you do to something with 〜てほしい

Manga panel from からかい上手の高木さん showing example of Don't want you to misunderstand with 〜ないでほしい.
からかい上手の高木さん » Volume 2 » Page 131

After failing to trick Nishikata with a prank, Tagaki asks him if he doesn’t like her teasing him.

高木(たかぎ):
「勘違(かんちが)いしないでほしいんだけど、西片(にしかた)が好(す)きだからやってるんだよ。」
“I don't want you to misunderstand. It's because I like you that I do it.”
Literal: “I want you not to misunderstand, but I do it because I like you, Nishikata.”

Key Points

1〜ないでほしい = I don’t want you to…
  • This is the negative て-form pattern used to express a hoped-for non-action.
  • Here Takagi means she does not want Nishikata to misunderstand her teasing.
2勘違(かんちが)いしないでほしい
  • The verb is 勘違(かんちが)いする, “to misunderstand”.
  • So the phrase means “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”
3んだけど softens the lead-in
  • 「ないでほしいんだけど」 sounds gentler than a blunt command.
  • It works as a soft setup before she explains her real reason.
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