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When you ask "Where is the book?"

本はどこにありますか。or
本はどこですか。

Are both answers ("It is nowhere.") in Japanese correct?

どこにもありません。or
どこもではありません。

Is 「どこにもありません。」the same as 「どこもではありません。」, are both correct?　

Nesshin72
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    You don't say どこ**も**ではありません (unless you mean [ドコモ](https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/)ではありません) – Chocolate Oct 08 '15 at 08:03
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    [どこでもありません is *not* wrong](https://www.google.co.jp/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%22) (though its meaning is different from どこにもありません). – Chocolate Oct 08 '15 at 08:07
  • Thank you, but what does どこでもありません exactly mean? – Nesshin72 Oct 08 '15 at 08:11
  • I think どこにもありません means "It is nowhere", while どこでもありません means "It is not anywhere". Do I get the difference right? – Nesshin72 Oct 08 '15 at 08:47
  • Well, if you rephrase your question as どこにもありません vs どこでもありません then it is a duplicate of [「どこでもある」と「どこにもある」の使い分け](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17697/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B-%E3%81%A8-%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B-%E3%81%AE%E4%BD%BF%E3%81%84%E5%88%86%E3%81%91) – macraf Oct 08 '15 at 12:27
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    どこもではない is "it's not everywhere". – user4092 Oct 08 '15 at 19:40
  • 「Nはどこにもありません」makes me feel like it's saying about a *thing* N, which doesn't exist anywhere. Meanwhile, 「Nはどこでもありません」 is likely to say about a *place* N. 「この本はどこにもありません」 is natural, while 「この本はどこでもありません」 is not natural and can't be translated as "This book doesn't exist anywhere." – puhitaku Nov 08 '15 at 12:39

3 Answers3

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どこにもありません is correct, but どこもではありません is quite strange, I have never heard it.

The verb ''ある'' which means ''exist'' is usually used with a particle ''に''

E.g. In response to '本はどこにありますか。':

  • あそこにあります。
  • あそこにはありません。

On the other hand, ''ある'' with ''で'', which means that someone or something is the same as the subject of the sentence, is quite similar to ''です''. This meaning of ''ある'' is rather used with ''は'' in negative sentences.

E.g. In response to '本はどこですか。':

  • あそこです。

  • あそこではありません。

    ※ 'あそこであります' isn't wrong, but is quite an old-fashioned expression in positive sentences.

By the way, these are three hints that might help you:

  • は doesn't come with interrogatives like どこ, なに, いつ, だれ and so on.
  • も and は don't come together.
  • も or は never comes before で, に, から, まで, etc. That is a reason why どこもではありません is very strange.

You can say the following:

  • あそこにありません。
  • あそこに はありません。
  • あそこに もありません。

Reading my explanation above, you may wonder if どこでもありません is correct.
Although people DO say どこでもありません in some cases, it is NOT appropriate for the reply to 本はどこですか／どこにありますか。

I am very sorry but I can't explain the reason well...

Community
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Toshihiko
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No, one of them is not correct (the first one). Other ways to say this are: 「本はどこですか？」or「本は？」(Where is) book? This works due to the particle 「は」(the subject-introducing particle) is introducing a new topic, saying "book is?". I hope this has helped you!

日本人
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The simple answer to the question, 「本はどこですか？」is this;「本がない。」(There is no book, The book isn't there). But however, you are asking about if「どこにもありません」and「どこもではありません」. As someone above has said, 「どこもではありません」is completely wrong. However, the first one can be retrofitted to make more sense. Though it does make some sense, it is not very good and sounds queer and unnatural. I think to correct the sentence to make it sound more natural, it should be like this:「何処にもない」(doko ni mo nai) to say "it is not anywhere", or, "is not to be found anywhere", or is, "nowhere to be found". I hope I was helpful. Have fun learning Japanese! (⌒▽⌒)

Ayako
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