ではなくて / じゃなくて【ではなくて】

ではなくて (and its casual form じゃなくて) is the conjunctive (te-form) of ではない / じゃない. It connects a negative clause to a following clause, most common to correct or contrast information – expressing "not A, but B."

Correcting or contrasting: "not A, but B"

The most common use is to deny one thing and then state the correct or intended alternative.

With nouns and na-adjectives, attach ではなくて or じゃなくて directly:

• Noun + ではなくて / じゃなくて
• Na-adj + ではなくて / じゃなくて

With i-adjectives, the negative te-form is 〜～くなくて:

With verbs, change ない to なくて:

Giving a negative reason

ではなくて / じゃなくて can also express a reason or cause in the negative, meaning "because it's not…" The context determines whether the nuance is correction or reason.

ではなくて vs. じゃなくて

じゃなくて is the colloquial spoken form, common in everyday conversation. ではなくて is more formal and appropriate for writing or polite speech. The meaning is identical.