てもかまわない / てもかまいません
- 1It is acceptable or fine if something is the case; the speaker does not mind.Ex. 1
- 2With a negative form, it is fine not to do something, meaning there is no need to.Ex. 2
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Used to grant permission or say that a condition is acceptable. The polite form てもかまいません is common in requests, instructions and service situations. It often precedes a clause with が or から that states what actually matters, as in both examples. It sounds somewhat more careful than てもいい.
Learners sometimes read かまわない as a prohibition because it is negative, but it means "it doesn't matter," so something is acceptable.
Do not attach ても directly to nouns or な-adjectives; use でも instead (e.g., 明日でもかまわない).
Note that the negative version ～なくてもかまわない means "don't have to," not "must not."
- てもいいN5てもいい is essentially identical to てもかまわない in meaning and attachment, and the two are interchangeable in most cases. てもいい is the most common choice in everyday conversation and sounds fairly casual, while てもかまわない is slightly more formal.
- ても差し支えないN1ても差し支えない matches てもかまわない in both meaning and attachment and can be swapped in when expressing permission, but it is more formal and appears mostly in business contexts, notices, and instruction manuals. You can ask for permission very formally with ても差し支えないでしょうか, though it sounds stiff between friends.
- なくてもいいN4なくてもいい means 'it's fine not to...' or 'it's okay even without... / even if it isn't...', the same meaning as なくてもかまわない, and the two are interchangeable, though the latter is slightly more formal. It cannot, however, express 'it's okay to do...'.
- ないことはないN3てもかまわない attaches to the て form and expresses permission or that something is acceptable. ないことはない attaches to a negative form (usually the potential form) and is a reluctant affirmation of the 'it's not that one can't...' type, so it does not express permission and the two cannot be interchanged.
- なくはないN2なくはない is a double negative meaning 'it's not that one doesn't...' — it tactfully and reluctantly gives a partial affirmation and does not express permission — whereas なくてもかまわない means 'it's fine not to...'. The two look similar but differ in meaning and cannot be interchanged.
- 〜てもいいですかN5〜てもいいですか is a question used to ask someone for permission or whether a certain condition is acceptable, while てもかまわない is mostly used to grant permission or express a concession and sounds more formal. The attachment is the same, and the question can also be phrased てもかまいませんか.
てもいい means essentially the same as てもかまわない but is more colloquial, ても差し支えない is more formal and leans toward written style, and なくてもいい is synonymous with the negative use なくてもかまわない. ないことはない and なくはない are partial affirmations — 'not completely not', so some possibility remains — and have nothing to do with permission; to ask permission, generally use 〜てもいいですか, or 〜てもかまいませんか to be more polite.
