Help: I don't drink alcohol.

[tajroycalhoun]

So, I hear a lot that going out for drinks with your coworkers is a big part of Japanese business culture. But I don't drink, so I wanted to know how to politely say that I don't drink.

Would it be alright (or, even just "right") to say:

私わお酒が飲んでやりません。

Or am I overcomplicating my sentence? Would just お酒が飲みません be better?

Also, another question relating less to grammar and just to context - would it be pertinent to add 失礼します in this situation?

I'd be grateful for any help - thanks.

[community.japanese]

tajroycalhoun さん、
Konnichiwa.
You can say　お酒が飲めません (I can’t drink) ．
If you say お酒は飲みません, some bosses might not care about your preference and might push you to drink.
飲めません sounds like ‘I would like to drink but my body doesn’t accept alcohol.’
If you really don’t want to drink you can say アレルギーです (I am alletig to alcohol).
Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[tajroycalhoun]

由紀様、ありがとうございます！

I had heard 飲めません when I was first looking up the answer on google, but I didn't feel comfortable with it sense I'd technically be lying. Same with アレルギー, but if those are circumstantially most appropriate and effective, then that's what I'll use!

もう一度ありがとうございます由紀様

[patrick_harnett]

There are a couple of options. I saw it best demonstrated by my friend in Nagoya - he did drink, but not if driving - you could say that you have to drive somewhere later and can't.

It probably would not work to pretend (if you have not had any).

Third option (from my deceased paternal grandmother), take one glass and don't drink any. She was known for leaving a glass of beer to be found the next day.

Four - my grandfather didn't drink - he didn't like the taste. No one bothered him about it.

We we go karaoke in Japan, it is ok to have water or oolong. My wife has meds that sometimes react badly and our friends and mama-san don't mind (maybe because I make up for it )