Most lazy but still relatively polite way of saying 'must'

Japanese
#1

Looking for a sweet spot of politeness but ease of saying ‘must’ in a store customer context

~なければいけない・~なければならない are just so long and I feel like the other person is patiently waiting for me to finish. I stumble or start to lose interest myself around the ば mark

so recently I’ve started using ~なきゃ instead as I’m a lazy person, but I worry it’s too casual

so people in Japan how to most easily but politely say, ‘do I have to pay in cash?’ to a server

現金で支払わなきゃ？

chatgpt is telling me 支払わないといけませんか but’s not that much shorter/easier than the full-fat, full-sugar, 支払わなければいけませんか

note this is only in roleplay with my tutor

I mean I do feel like a bit of a JK when using なきゃ (perhaps thats the appeal :face_with_monocle:)

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#2

Not fully answering the question, but maybe it’s also quite common to ask in a bit more open ended way, to avoid someone having to respond with
‘Yes, you must do X’

So maybe
Outside of cash, are there any other ways to pay? /
現金に限らず、支払い方法 はありますか？

Or just 支払い方法 は…
might be a way this is asked too.

(I could be overthinking politeness here though, just my guess)

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#3

Directly asking “Must I pay cash?” might sound a bit confrontational, no? I would think more in the direction of “Do you accept cards?” and such.

But in a different context, if you are telling somebody what needs to be done, I’d guess the short and polite version is ○○ないと, adding or omitting 困ります depending if the other party is taking the hint or not.

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#4

Like in English, the verbosity is likely an aspect of politeness and formality itself. なくちゃ and なきゃ seem fine, but of course the effort of saying なければならない is like saying “Thank you kindly,” instead of thx or kty

#5

In this situation, I would simplify it and just ask:

カード/現金で払ってもいいですか？

The てもいい pattern is very useful in these cases.

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#6

てもいい is the most useful expression in japanese. right up there with かな. lol

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#7

While the others are right that usually you would use other grammar structures in this use case, I also had this thought while I was studying N4. When I asked my Japanese colleagues they told me that ～なきゃ is used casually but if you need a slightly more polite version people tend to say ～ないと (as in the shortened form as ～ないといけない).
e.g. もうすぐ帰らないと - “I have to go home soon”

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#8

Although the server might understand you, 現金で払わなきゃ？ sounds very unnatural. For Questions, it is best to use the long form. However, 現金で払わないといけませんか sounds a little confrontational as @casual mentioned as it will carry the nuance of ‘Do I HAVE to pay in cash? (can’t you just accept other payment methods?)’.

As other have suggested, if you are lazy there are many other shorter ways you can ask.
カード使えますか？QRコード・バーコード決済使えますか？

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#9

カード(は)使えますか？ is a common and useful way! In addition, I sometimes say 支払いは現金のみ/だけですか？ in that context.

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#10

Can confirm, カードでもいいですか works like a champ. I was just whining elsewhere how I don’t understand the difference between all the ‘must’ forms and it makes me avoid using them.

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#11

Thanks for all the replies. I was imaging a situation in a very informal restaurant (like Wonkei’s in London if anyone knows it), where sometimes the only option is to pay cash (*cough money laundering *cough). In English I’d probably say, “do I have to pay by cash?” and this was my crude translation. So slightly different from the もいい pattern (is it okay if I pay by cash) though なくてもいい would do I guess (ok if I don’t pay by cash)
使えますか
現金だけですか。
mm I like those - the shorter the phrase, the easier to remember.
thanks 皆

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#12

I will say that in the two times I’ve visited Japan (so far) places that only accept cash will either state or have a sign that says 現金のみ, so I would assume the most natural/common would be 現金のみですか？ If you want to confirm that it is cash only.

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#13

In this context, I normally just say “[desired method of payment] OK ですか？” or a てもいい type thing.

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#14

Would this be passable: カード だいじょうぶ?
I would say that I’ve used だいじょうぶ a lot on my previous trips to Japan, all before I started getting serious about learning grammar. I usually say it with a smile and I’ve never had a problem.
But thanks for bringing up an easier but still polite way of saying ‘must’ because the proper way is a mouthful. So thanks to @FullMetalAlba for pointing out the alternative which is N4 Lesson 8: ないと (JLPT N4) | Bunpro

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#15

That’s basically fine it’s just a little casual for this kind of interaction so I’d change it to カードでだいじょうぶですか?
The most common way I’ve heard people in Japan say it is カードでいいですか?

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