The only difference is that しか (shika) gives the expression a more negative impact. To make this as clear as possible, let’s compare だけ (dake) and しか (shika) and see how their English interpretations differ.Īs you can see, the general meaning remain the same. しか can be used with a negative verb to deliver more emphasis on “nothing else”. しか (shika) is the negative version of だけ (dake) If you are at an intermediate level, you can study this word with a couple examples below: In fact, it’s so formal that you will only see it in books, ads or on the news. You won’t find のみ (nomi) in regular conversations. のみ (nomi) is a very formal way to say だけ (dake) (Do as much as you can of your homework.)Īsu mata dekiru dake hayaku koko ni kite kudasai. Note that だけ (dake) is commonly placed in the same construction as 後あとは when we are using a verb. We will place だけ (dake) directly after the phrase to emphasize that there is only one action left. The above four examples are dealing with nouns, but we can also use だけ (dake) with verbs as well. (I only have one.) / (There is only one.) More examples of だけ (dake) as “only” or “just” しか (shika) will be used in a negative sentence, while だけ (dake) remains positive. We will also take a look at しか (shika) and のみ (nomi) as alternatives to express the same idea of “only” in Japanese.

Just think of だけ (dake) as a way to express that there is nothing more. For this reason, you will commonly see it used with ちょっと (chotto) and 少し (sukoshi), which can be both translated as “a little”. It’s common to use だけ (dake) when we are referring to amounts as well.

Thus, verbs such like 'miru' or 'benkysuru' belong to durative verbs, and 'sumu' or 'aisuru' are punctual verbs. We use this Japanese word exactly the same way as we use “only” in English, so it is very easy to learn. 'The -te form + iru/imasu' expresses different aspect of verbs depending on the types of verbs, for instance, the present progressive tense for durative verbs (called 'keizoku dshi' in Japanese grammar) or the present state resulting from the past action for punctual verbs (shunkan dshi).

Japanese Grammar – dake (だけ) means “only” or “just”ĭake (だけ) means only or just and can be used with many words to express that there is “nothing else”.

Totemo aishite imasu