What's this form of verb
 

　　What's　起こさずに, I never seen this form before, what does it mean?

Without waking someone up

Could you give me some detail about this form, like what tense is this? Thx

Here's an example - 彼は彼女を起こさずに、部屋を去った。　(He left the room without waking her up). Whatever immediately precedes the 起こさずに becomes the subject (another eg. 赤ちゃんを起こさずに通ってください　- Please pass by without waking the baby). I've only heard it used as a past tense phrase.

起こさずに can also mean "without causing". Eg. 喧嘩を起こさずに相談した　- Discussed without causing an arguement.

ずに is essentially ないで in situations where ないで retains it's meaning of 'and' it is apparently considered for formal speech and used in written japanese but I have seen/heard it used quite a bit while in Japan. i'm sure MMM or someone will pop in and confirm this. you can basically think of it as without doing 'verb', do/did this.

an example on a non-past use of it:
辞典を使わずに読んで下さい - please read without using a dictionary.

an action must follow ずに so the following is not acceptable:
電話せずに欲しい

also に can be omitted.

Anrakushi, you are most correct in your explainations above. One will find ずに being used more in written papers while ないで in oral situations.

enyafriend's confirmation is much more valuable than mine...but for what it is worth, I agree 100%.

cheers both of you, glad to get some grammar right for a change after the なきゃ confusion. :) hope this helps you DragonShade

Even though insignificantly, I'm glad that I could be of help.

Now, cheers, one round for everyone please.....

Thanks, now I know the meaning and function of this form

but I wonder what's the rule for this, I mean how to change other verb into this form?