English translation:
To emphasize ‘~only’
nothing but
Structure:
Noun + だけしか + ない
Explanation:
Compound particle made of “だけ” and “しか”.
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I’ve got a quick question about one of the example sentences.
私には従兄弟が一人だけしかいません。
I only have one cousin.
What is the に doing here beside 私?
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This is alternative construction, you can use either 私には従兄弟が一人だけしかいません and 私は従兄弟が一人だけしかいません.
Both mean the same thing.
It is exactly the same as in:
東京には外国人がたくさんいます。
東京は外国人がたくさんいます。
to make things easier by analogy, you can think of yourself as location of cousin.
Literally: I have only one cousin with me.
I hope it helps,
Cheers!
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Ah, it makes sense. Thank you!
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These example sentences under the explanation confused me:
- 土曜日だけしか忙しくないから、出来たら土曜日がいい。
Only Saturdays aren’t busy, so if possible Saturday is preferable.
- この中ではタケシだけしか上手ではない。他はみんな結構うまい。
In this group, Takeshi is the only one that isn’t good. Everyone else is considerably skilled.
- 何でこのコップだけしか500円ではないの？
Why is this cup the only one that isn’t 500yen?
Am i just confused? Shouldn’t the translation be that only Saturdays are busy, and Takeshi is the only one who is good, and only this cup is 500 yen?
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For whatever it is worth, I agree. (Silver lining for me is that confusion over these sentences drove me to discover the grammar discussion threads.)
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I was just about to create an issue about that! I agree, I’m thoroughly confused by the examples. To me, the example sentences you listed are polar opposites of the other ones on that page.
Not only that, but deepl.com and Google translate seem to be confused about the meaning, as well (and they work usually quite well, even for more complex phrases, especially deepl.com). Both translate “この中ではタケシだけしか上手ではない” to “Only Takeshi is good at this”.
It’s strange.
Edit: I’ve talked to some Japanese folks, and they were initially also assuming it was about something “only Takeshi is good at”. But when I showed them the explanation on BunPro, they kind of agreed that it can be interpreted the other way. So at the very least, there seems to be some ambiguity about the meaning, maybe depending on context? Nevertheless, the given example sentences seem to have opposite meanings:
野菜だけしか食べれません
→ だけしか + negative = positive, eating only vegetables
タケシだけしか上手ではない
→ だけしか + negative = negative!, Takeshi is the only one NOT good at something
I think that warrants some explanation on the grammar point.
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I immediately came here to see if someone had asked about this, and your reply took the words out of my mouth, as I had also used other translators out there to double check and that got me utterly confused.
It’s a shame there has been no answer to this riddle so far…
If 「土曜日だけしか忙しくない」 means “only Saturdays aren’t busy”, how would you say “only Saturdays are busy” with the しか～ない structure?
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I came to this thread wondering the same thing as everyone else in this thread re: negative vs positive interpretations. I would have thought the sentences would be “only Takeshi is good at” or “only Saturdays are busy” or “the only one that is 500yen.”
Interesting! So it can be ambiguous? I agree, if these sentences’ translations are correct, I’d like an explanation about ambiguity on the grammar point too.
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I also came to this discussion thread hoping to find some insight into how the example sentences seem to showcase contradictory meanings. Did anyone here ever come to a conclusion about how to pick up on that nuance? Is it just one of those things that requires greater context to gauge the meaning?
The example sentence that was being discussed above has been changed to use 下手 instead of 上手, so the conclusion appears to be that that particular contradiction was a mistake in the example sentence.
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