Embedded questions without particle か


> （医師が患者に）薬を **飲むか飲まないか** を決めるのは、あなた自身ですよ。(pattern one)
>
> お酒を **飲む飲まない** に関わりなく参加者には一人3000円払っていただきます。(pattern two)

I'd like to ask three questions.

The first one is: is "verb+か+verb+ないか" (pattern one) totally interchangeable
with "verb+verb+ない" (pattern two)? If not, what is the difference between them
(register, formality, frequency, etc.)?

The second one is: can all verbs be grammatically constructed into pattern one
and pattern two?

The third one is: can 形容詞 and 形容動詞 be constructed into pattern two? e.g.,
安い安くないを気にしている.

ご教授の程お願い致します。




  1. I do think they are interchangeable. You should mentally picture 「・」 in the middle in the pattern two. Having か in-between does make it sound a little more polite.

  2. Yes, and to understand that better, you should think of this more like 「AかBか」, such as 今日か明日か明後日か, 高いか安いか, 上か下か真ん中か

  3. Yes, again because it's a simple enumeration.

