しか

しか Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Particle

Essential Meaning: Nothing but / Nobody but / Only

Construction: 

• Noun + しか
  • E.g. 先生せんせいしか [Nobody but the teacher]

• Noun + Optional Particle + しか
  • E.g. with へ: 先生せんせい(へ)しか [To nobody but the teacher]
  • E.g. with に (Indirect Object): 先生せんせい(に)しか [With / From / To nobody but the teacher]
  • E.g. with に (Time): 日曜日にちようびにしか [On no day but Sunday]
  • E.g. with に (Direction): 東京とうきょう(に)しか [To no place but Tokyo]

• Noun + Mandatory Particle +しか
  • E.g. with で (Location): 東京とうきょうでしか [At no place but Tokyo]
  • E.g. with で (Means): 車くるまでしか [By no means but by car]
  • E.g. with と (Reciprocal Relationship): 山田やまださんとしか [With nobody but Yamada-san]
  • E.g. with から (Starting Point / Source): 東京とうきょうからしか [From no place but Tokyo]
  • E.g. with まで: 五時ごじまでしか [Until no time but 5 o’clock]

• Quantifier + しか
  • E.g. 少すこししか [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. ボブだけ来きた。[Only Bob came.]
    • E.g. *ボブしか来きた。[Nobody but Bob came.] しか cannot be used with a positive predicate.
    • E.g. ボブしか来こなかった。[Nobody but Bob came.]
    • E.g. ボブだけ来こなかった。[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. 私わたしの家いえから学校がっこうまでは車くるまで5分ふんしかかからない。[From my house to the university takes only 5 minutes by car.]
    • E.g. *私わたしの家いえから学校がっこうまでは車くるまで5分ふんだけかかる。[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. 女子じょししか来こなかった。[Nobody but girls came (i.e. All but girls didn’t come).]
    • E.g. 女子じょしばかり来きた。[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のんだ。[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のまなかった。[Jim drank nothing but beer.]
    • E.g. ジムはビールだけ飲のんだ。[Jim drank only beer.]
  • (3) ばかり cannot be used if X is a single entity. しか can.
    • E.g. 女おんなの子こばかり来きた。[Only girls came.] This is acceptable because there is a plurality of girls.
    • E.g. *メアリーばかり来きた。[Only Mary came.] This is unacceptable because Mary is a single entity, and ばかり cannot be used for single entities.
    • E.g. 女おんなの子こしか来こなかった。[Only girls came.] しか can be used regardless of number.
    • E.g. メアリーしか来こなかった。[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. *子供達こどもたちばかりこなかった。[Only children didn’t come.]

Example Sentences:

戸田とださんしかタバコを吸すわない。[Nobody but Toda-san smokes tobacco.]

私わたしは日本語にほんごしか知しらない。[I know nothing but Japanese.]

それは江口えぐちさんにしか話はなしていない。[I haven’t told that to anyone but Eguchi-san.]

私わたしはご飯はんをいっぱいしか食たべなかった。[I ate nothing but one bowl of rice.]

パーティーには学生がくせいしか来こなかった。[Only students came to the party.]

田村たむらさんはサラダしか食たべなかった。[Tamura-san ate nothing but salad.]

私わたしは日曜日にちようびしか来こられません。[I can come on no day but Sunday.]

この本ほんはこの図書館としょかんしかありません。[This book is at no library but this one.]

そこは車くるまでしか行いけない。[You can go there no other way than by car.]

私わたしは山田やまださんとしか話はなしをしない。[I talk only to Yamada-san.]

この学校がっこうは学生がくせいが百人ひゃくにんしかいない。[This school has only a hundred students.]

WILD Examples:

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