I just did a page of LaTex for this (which I lost) and I am not going to repeat it BUT
Here is a page that I put together on negative indices. It should help you understand how it works.
http://web2.0calc.com/questions/indices-especially-negative-indices
Very simplistically,
If something is raised to a negative indice you swap it to the other side of the fraction line and change the negative index to a positive index.
Also do you mean
2x/3(y^-1) which means 2x3×y−1
or do you mean
2x/(3(y^-1)) which means 2x3y−1
You need to learn to use brackets so that your meaning is unmistakable!