dewa or ja arimasen

[erok]

How do I know which to use?
'dewa arimasen' or 'ja arimasen' ??
(I guess I am referring to beginner lesson #11) The notes say either one can be used - but is there a rule to determine which one?
Thanks in advance,
Eric

erok

[Bueller_007]

How do I know which to use?
'dewa arimasen' or 'ja arimasen' ??
(I guess I am referring to beginner lesson #11) The notes say either one can be used - but is there a rule to determine which one?
Thanks in advance,
Eric

erok

じゃ is a contraction of では, like can't is a contraction of cannot. Both are acceptable. In spoken Japanese, it's probably more natural to say じゃ, because it rolls off the tongue easier. では would be used more in written contexts. But basically, they're interchangeable.

Jason is the resident keigo expert, so maybe he'll tell us if では is more polite than じゃ. My hunch is that it's perhaps more formal or bookish, but not more polite.

[erok]

Thank you for yur reply.
erok

[Jason]

Jason is the resident keigo expert, so maybe he'll tell us if では is more polite than じゃ. My hunch is that it's perhaps more formal or bookish, but not more polite.

Well, I don't know about being a keigo expert, but anyway...

Since では is used often in spoken Japanese, I would be hesitant to call it "bookish." In normal situations, the difference in politeness would probably be negligible. The one exception I can think of is if you used ではない in an informal conversation. Since it's not used much in informal situations, it may actually sound considerably more forceful than じゃない.

In a business or other formal situation where formality = politeness, yes, it's definitely more polite.