Preference between のですか and んですか?

Is there any preference between using のですか or using んですか. Or is there something else that would be used?

For example:
赤がいいんですか vs 赤がいいのですか

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ん basically comes from the pronunciation of の getting slurred and simplified, so it’s a more casual way of speaking. So if you’re speaking in most situations, ん is fine.

If you want to speak very polite and non-casual Japanese without contractions and whatnot, then you’d want to avoid things like ん in this usage. Most people don’t consciously try to avoid such things when speaking.

But it’s not like の is itself super stiff. It’s not unheard of in normal conversations. But it’s probably going to be noticeable.

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My Japanese teacher just ends his questions in ん without any ですか so there are degrees of formality (he’s from Okayama so it might be dialect :man_shrugging:)

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There’s also extra casual 赤がいいの?

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