「だけ・しか」

There are two ways to say 'only' in Japanese.

だけ takes a positive verb and しか a negative verb to describe the same situation.

They are very similar in meaning, but しか has an extra implication of 'not enough'.

だけ + positive verb → りんごだけ食べる only eat apples (and nothing else)
しか + negative verb → りんごしか食べない only eat apples (and not more of a variety)


[+] Expand all items
「だけ」の使いかた

Formation

だけ + positive verb

Verb (plain form) 食べるだけ only eat
Noun りんごだけ only an apple
Classifier 一人だけ only one person
Quantity word すこしだけ only a bit


  • Particles は, が and を are often replaced by だけ.
  • だけ comes before all other particles.
  • だけ must come immediately after the word it refers to.

Example sentences

Verbs

  1. しゅうまつはピアノのれんしゅうするだけです。
    I only do piano practice on the weekend (and nothing else).
  2. ゆうべ、テレビを見ただけです。
    Last night I only watched TV (and did nothing else).

Nouns

  1. しゅうまつだけピアノのれんしゅうをします。
    I practise piano only on the weekend (and at no other time).
  2. 私だけサンドイッチをもってきました。
    Only I brought sandwiches (and nobody else).
  3. 私はサンドイッチだけもってきました。
    I only brought sandwiches (and nothing else).

Classifiers

  1. かばんをひとつだけもっていくつもりです。
    I only intend to take one bag.

Quantity words

  1. フランス語はすこしだけわかります。
    I only understand a little French (not more).
「しか」の使いかた

Formation

Noun

Classifier

Quantity word

 しか + negative verb


  • しか replaces particles は, が and を.
  • しか comes after all other particles.
  • Change the negative verb to positive when translating into English.
  • しか can be used to emphasise a small or insufficient amount of something.

Example sentences

Nouns

  1. ともこさんしか来ませんでした。
    Only Tomoko came (even though we were expecting more people).
  2. きょうとでは、おてらにしか行かなかった。
    In Kyoto, we only went to temples (and I would like to have seen other things too).

Classifiers

  1. とうきょうからおおさかまで、しんかんせんで２時間半しかかからない。
    From Tokyo to Osaka, it only takes 2.5 hours on the bullet train (such a short time!).

Quantity words

  1. フランス語はすこししかわかりません。
    I only understand a little bit of French (and it would be good to understand a bit more).

Important!

The distinction between だけandしか is a subtle one. The most important thing to remember is whether to use a positive or negative verb in your Japanese sentence.

れんしゅう [▲/▼]