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?
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2015-10-08T07:19:13.473
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grammar negation
Is 「どこにもありません。」the same as 「どこもではありません。」?
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!
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2015-10-08T19:08:43.697
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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! (⌒▽⌒)
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2015-10-09T01:41:05.867
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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...
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