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I am confused by the usage of どちら and どなた. I understand that どちら is usually
used as the polite form of どこ, but can also mean "who", in the case of どちらさま.

  1. Are there any differences between どなた and どちらさま? Are they completely interchangeable? Or are there situations where one is preferred over the other?
  2. Can どちら be used to mean "who" without さま? Would it be considered rude if used?

For example:

  1. これは どなたのペンですか。
  2. これは どちらさまのペンですか。 
  3. これは どちらのペンですか。
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2022-01-06T11:50:32.803
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2022-01-07T21:27:54.333
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question
word-choice pronouns
Differences between どちら and どなた
First off, どなた means _who_ and どちら _where, which, who_. (どなた can mean _where_
in classical Japanese, but not in modern usage.)

Re Q1, a simple answer is that they are not interchangeable due to the
difference in meaning. どなたさま is also possible, but sounds too polite to me.

Re Q2,
[どちら](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E4%BD%95%E6%96%B9_%28%E3%81%A9%E3%81%A1%E3%82%89%29/#jn-159210)
is usually suffixed by さま to mean _who_ , as stated in the definition #2-ア.
どちらさま sounds more polite than どなた.

Now back to interchangeability, when they are used to mean _who_ , sometimes
they can be swapped. From the linked entry:

  * 失礼ですが、{どなた,どなたさま,どちらさま}ですか
  * {どちらさま,どなた, どなたさま}もお忘れ物のないように願います」

All in the braces are possible in the above, but as already mentioned, どなたさま
may be too polite.

Lastly regarding the rudeness, どちらさま can be used to mean _who are you?_ when
pronounced brusquely. どなた can be used in the same way, but my impression is
that どちらさま is used in that way more often (mostly in fiction). In real speech,
they are usually appended by ですか: どちらさまですか/どなたですか to ask e.g. who is calling.

Re examples,

  * #1 is natural for _whose pen is this?_.
  * #2 sounds odd probably because (1) これ does not match politeness of どちらさま and (2) pen may sound too trivial to use such a polite form. こちらはどちらさまのお宅ですか? may be used.
  * #3 sounds unambiguously _which pen is this?_ (which needs contexts to make sense).

* * *

So overall, どなた and どちらさま mean _who_ and interchangeable to some extent. The
latter is more polite and probably because of this, less versatile. I don't
come up with a natural sentence where どちら alone means _who_.
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2022-01-06T14:06:18.340
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answer