I am not sure when ではありません and 〜くない are used. I was given the sentence この赤いかばんは大きいではありません (as in "this red bag is not big") and I am not sure why この赤いかばんは大きくないです was not used. Could anyone explain? Thanks!
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大きいではありません does not seem grammatically correct to me, 大きくありません would be grammatically correct. I believe ありません is a step of politeness over ないです。 Actually this probably answers your question better than me https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2574/is-%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99-equally-correct-as-%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93 – Janusz ヤヌシュ Jan 18 '19 at 22:01
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〜くない (and くありません) attaches to い adjectives, while ではありません (and ではない) attaches to nouns and な adjectives – Janusz ヤヌシュ Jan 18 '19 at 22:07
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2Possible duplicate of Is じゃないです equally correct as じゃありません? – Janusz ヤヌシュ Jan 18 '19 at 22:12
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この赤いかばんは大きいではありません
Are you sure this is the sentence you saw and that it came from a reputable source?
The sentence does not mean "This red bag is not big". As you correctly pointed out, the correct way to say that would be この赤いかばんは大きくありません or この赤いかばんは大きくないです etc.
You cannot negate an i-adjective by adding ではありません, ではない、じゃない etc, after the adjective.
This sentence has the opposite meaning of "This red bag is big, isn't it?", but expressed rather formally. This link may be helpful.
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