Difference between ではありません and ありません. When do I need to add the では in front of ありません?
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Related: japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/23542/…. Both used for negation "no" or "neither". – Tetsuya Yamamoto Sep 13 '17 at 2:40
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1Why did you tag this question with colloquial-language? – macraf Sep 13 '17 at 4:10
ありません is the negative polite form of あります. You use it to describe that something "doesn't exist". Ex.:
ここに車がありません。 There are no cars here.
ではありません on the other hand, acts as the negative form of です. Ex.:
私は猫ではありません。 I'm not a cat.
ではありません
is meant to express something isn't, while
ありません
is meant to express the lack of or nonexistence of something (if concrete, something immobile).
学校ではありません。 (It's) not a school.
学校ありません。 There's no school.
