つもりはない Question

So I’ve noticed that Bunpro teaches that you use verb+つもりはない when you do not intend to do something. However, I’ve seen multiple sources such as Genki, and Japanese Adventure use [verb negative] + つもり Genki also mentions that doing つもりはない is not as natural. I just wanted to get more views on this, since I’m not entirely sure.

Thanks

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@josh
Hey and welcome on the community forums :partying_face:

There are two possible and correct negations of つもり when we want to express that we do not intend to do something。
ないつもりだ(more polite: ないつもりです) and つもりはない(more polite: つもりはないです・つもりはありません)。つもりではない is not used used for that.

The difference lies in how strong speaker wants to express negation, where ないつもり is the weaker and つもりはない is the stronger one.

I will try to illustrate the difference in English translation:
行かないつもりだ ー I intend not to go.
行くつもりはない ー I have no intention of going.

That is basically it, I hope it helps,
Cheers!

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Thank you!

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