しか Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: Nothing but / Nobody but / Only
Construction:
- Noun + しか
- E.g. 先生しか [Nobody but the teacher]
- Noun + Optional Particle + しか
- E.g. with へ: 先生(へ)しか [To nobody but the teacher]
- E.g. with に (Indirect Object): 先生(に)しか [With / From / To nobody but the teacher]
- E.g. with に (Time): 日曜日にしか [On no day but Sunday]
- E.g. with に (Direction): 東京(に)しか [To no place but Tokyo]
- Noun + Mandatory Particle +しか
- E.g. with で (Location): 東京でしか [At no place but Tokyo]
- E.g. with で (Means): 車でしか [By no means but by car]
- E.g. with と (Reciprocal Relationship): 山田さんとしか [With nobody but Yamada-san]
- E.g. with から (Starting Point / Source): 東京からしか [From no place but Tokyo]
- E.g. with まで: 五時までしか [Until no time but 5 o’clock]
- Quantifier + しか
- E.g. 少ししか [Only a little]
Notes:
- Xしか means “Nothing but X” or “Only X“. It emphasizes the absence or lack of of things other than X. Due to this emphasis on an absence or lack of something, しか ALWAYS occurs with negative predicates.
- しか is similar to だけ. The differences are:
- (1) だけ describes the situation in a a neutral fashion (i.e. it doesn’t particularly emphasize either the positive or the negative aspect of the sentence). しか, on the other hand, clearly emphasizes the negative aspect.
- (2) だけ can occur with positive or negative predicates, while しか can only occur with negative predicates.
- E.g. ボブだけ来た。[Only Bob came.]
- E.g. *ボブしか来た。[Nobody but Bob came.] しか cannot be used with a positive predicate.
- E.g. ボブしか来なかった。[Nobody but Bob came.]
- E.g. ボブだけ来なかった。[Only Bob didn’t come.]
- (3) The verb かかる [To take time] can co-occur with しか but not with だけ.
- E.g. 私の家から学校までは車で5分しかかからない。[From my house to the university takes only 5 minutes by car.]
- E.g. *私の家から学校までは車で5分だけかかる。[From my house to the university takes only 5 minutes by car.] だけ cannot co-occur with かかる.
- ばかり is another similar word to しか. The difference are:
- (1) ばかり emphasizes the positive aspect (i.e. the proposition applies to ONLY X), while しか emphasizes the negative aspect (i.e. the situation applies to all BUT X).
- E.g. 女子しか来なかった。[Nobody but girls came (i.e. All but girls didn’t come).]
- E.g. 女子ばかり来た。[Only girls came.]
- (2) ばかり often has the implication that something is done or exists to a much greater extent than the speaker expects or thinks is appropriate. しか does not have this implication.
- E.g. ジムはビールばかり飲んだ。[Jim drank ONLY beer (and a whole lot of it).] There is an implication that Jim drank too much beer.
- E.g. ジムはビールしか飲まなかった。[Jim drank nothing but beer.]
- E.g. ジムはビールだけ飲んだ。[Jim drank only beer.]
- (3) ばかり cannot be used if X is a single entity. しか can.
- E.g. 女の子ばかり来た。[Only girls came.] This is acceptable because there is a plurality of girls.
- E.g. *メアリーばかり来た。[Only Mary came.] This is unacceptable because Mary is a single entity, and ばかり cannot be used for single entities.
- E.g. 女の子しか来なかった。[Only girls came.] しか can be used regardless of number.
- E.g. メアリーしか来なかった。[Only Mary didn’t come.] しか can be used regardless of number.
- (4) ばかり cannot be used with negative predicates.
- E.g. *子供達ばかりこなかった。[Only children didn’t come.]
- (1) ばかり emphasizes the positive aspect (i.e. the proposition applies to ONLY X), while しか emphasizes the negative aspect (i.e. the situation applies to all BUT X).
Example Sentences:
戸田さんしかタバコを吸わない。[Nobody but Toda-san smokes tobacco.]
私は日本語しか知らない。[I know nothing but Japanese.]
それは江口さんにしか話していない。[I haven’t told that to anyone but Eguchi-san.]
私はご飯をいっぱいしか食べなかった。[I ate nothing but one bowl of rice.]
パーティーには学生しか来なかった。[Only students came to the party.]
田村さんはサラダしか食べなかった。[Tamura-san ate nothing but salad.]
私は日曜日しか来られません。[I can come on no day but Sunday.]
この本はこの図書館しかありません。[This book is at no library but this one.]
そこは車でしか行けない。[You can go there no other way than by car.]
私は山田さんとしか話しをしない。[I talk only to Yamada-san.]
この学校は学生が百人しかいない。[This school has only a hundred students.]
WILD Examples:
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