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In Japan I often felt いいえ or 違う is not the best choice, when asked, if I don't
carry something with me. Like at the airport security lady asked me, if I
there were any forbidden objects in my luggage. I can't recall the question,
but it ended in ない？ I felt lost for a second and she tried to help me out with
a correct answer and said in a confirming tone ない, and I used her tip and said
ない！

I used that couple of times in other situations. Is this okay to say it like
that or should I produce a better lengthier sentence, like 何も持っていない?
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2014-04-15T12:42:42.407
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2014-04-15T15:23:42.860
2014-04-15T15:23:42.860
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question
grammar word-choice
Is answering with simple ない grammatically correct, when saying I physically don't possess some object
Yes. Grammatically you can say 「ない」. This forms a complete sentence, which
means "(it is / that kind of stuff is) not (t)here".

However, this works only for physical existence or possession. In most cases,
even when a question ends in ない?, a simple 「ない」 is not a grammatically correct
answer. Like when asked 「あしたあそばない？」, the answer could be「あそばない」 but not a
simple 「ない」. This is because 「ない」 shows negation, not non-existence.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-15T12:57:22.527
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2014-04-15T12:57:22.527
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answer