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Negation with ではありません vs.

じゃない
Asked 8 years, 11 months ago

Modified 2 years, 6 months ago Viewed 26k times

I tried to say "I'm not a high school

student". But I read you can use じゃな
11 い to 'deny' something. In this case
which one should I use? ではありません
or じゃない?

わたし がくせい
10
私 はこうこうの学生ではありません。or
わたし がくせい
私 はこうこうの学生じゃないです。?

grammar

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edited Nov 24, 2017 at 7:53

Olga
135 6

asked Sep 17, 2013 at 1:31

Cute cat
135 1 1 7

1 Pure translation questions are not

acceptable here, sorry. Please try to
ask a more substantive question
about where it is you're having
trouble. Is it a vocabulary problem?
Grammar? – ssb Sep 17, 2013 at 1:50

Sorry! I just edit my question and

now I think it's a valid one.
– Cute cat Sep 17, 2013 at 2:03

4 You could maybe say 高校生 instead

of こうこうの学生. – user1478 Sep 17,
2013 at 2:20

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1 Answer
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First of all, you would use では, not でわ.

It's the particle は , the same one as 私
24 は at the beginning of your sentence.

Second, you have many options here.

じゃ is just a contraction of では , and
ない is just the informal form of ありま
せん . So you have four choices that are
all correct.

じゃない → most
informal

ではない

じゃありません

ではありません → most
formal

So it really depends on the context, who

you're speaking to, and how formal you
want to be. Whether or not you want to
say では・じゃないです instead of just で
は・じゃない is another issue, but you
may want to look at this topic regarding
that.

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edited Apr 13, 2017 at 12:43

Community Bot
1

answered Sep 17, 2013 at 2:31

istrasci
42.6k 4 100 240
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