Difference between たところだ vs. たばかり

Bunpro
#1

Hi guys,
so for my very first topic i wanted to ask if someone can explain the difference between the really similar meaning of たばかり and たところだ.

From my understanding until now it seems that たばかり is a more general way to say that a situation just happend around me/to me and たところだ indicates that i just did or finished something.

My Question came up because i did the Minna no Nihongo route and these grammar points came up pretty close to each other and now im always confusing them in the reviews ;).

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#2

たばかり is a relative measure of time. For example, if you met your partner only three months ago and already think about marriage. The example sentence: “先週台湾に行ったばかりじゃない?” is a good example. It did not happen a moment ago, but in relative time the person just went there.
たところだ on the contrary is about things that literally just happened. The movie just started a moment ago or you just entered the car, etc.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell when to use たばかり from the example sentences alone.

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#3

Thanks for the clarification.

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