Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [particle-しか]

助詞「しか」. An adverbial particle which marks an element X when nothing but X makes the expressed proposition true. Always accompanied by negation, and sometimes appears in the colloquial forms しきゃ or っきゃ.

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Does ません sometimes not negate?

彼ら は 自分 の 事 しか 考えて いません。 The translation of this sentence from my learning materials is apparently "They only think of themselves." Now it all makes sense to me until the ません at the end. To my mind it negates the entire sentence. So it means that…
sups12
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Meaning and grammar of やるっきゃない

I few minutes ago on NHK news 「注目」 I've heard/saw the phrase 「やるっきゃない」. I have no idea what it means.. And what grammar rules are here?
Ernestas Gruodis
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Is it possible to join 以下 + しか?

I try to use the limit marker 以下 (less than, up to) with the particle しか to convey that the amount of less than 1万 for a bonus is fewer than expected. Can I use both words together? My sentence is: A: 田中さん、ボーナス貰ったの？ B:…
jarmanso7
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しか before a clause

誰もが平等に死んで、自分では誰一人救えなかった。 人間なんてそんなものだと諦めるしか、目の前の恐怖を抑えられなかった。 My TL: Everyone died equally, I could not save anyone. I could do nothing other than giving up thinking "Human beings are like that." I could not suppress the fear in front of me. How…
Splikie
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ちょっとしか---V negative potential

「はい、遠野先輩の力になれたらいいなって思って。あ、けどちょっとしか詳しい話は聞けなかったんですけどね」 I tought I could help Tohno-Senpai. But I was able to find out just a little of the full story. Is it correct? ちょっと=A little しか---聞けなかった=can only hear か詳しい話=full story
Splikie
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What does としか mean in this sentence?

Really struggling with the meaning of this sentence from ちびまる子ちゃん: まさにうららかとしか言いようのない日だね My rough translation effort Surely, beautiful is the only way to describe this day But I'm struggling to break down the grammar here, in particular the としか…
user3856370
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How is "しかい" used in this sentence?

I'm a bit confused about how "しかい" is used in this sentence I came across while studying: そこには私一人しかいなかった。 "I was the only one there." My guess is that it is an ending to "一人", but I couldn't find any information supporting that.
smkraft
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Interchangeability of the position of しか?

I was recently told by a native speaker that both of these sentences are correct: ちょっとしか時間がないから行けない ちょっとの時間しかないから行けない。 Does where the しか attach not matter in this case? I feel like the meaning of both sentences are essentially the same. Perhaps,…
Shurim
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Is this a wrong translation of the negative?

I found this sentence from Death Note with it's translation: "これなら私はあなたを殺せないし、あなたからしか警察はノートを奪えない。" "Now I can’t kill you and the police can only recover the Death Note from you." Why is 奪えない translated as "can recover" and not "can't recover"…
Jon
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Can I use だけ and しか with amounts?

When I was learning how to use だけ and しか, I was told that だけ and しか both means "only". But the latter requires the verb to be in the negative form. For example: あの人だけが好きだ。 I only like that person. これしか買わない。 Only buy this. But out of all the…
Sweeper
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How do you translate "しか" correctly?

This is the sentence I'm trying to translate... I can't figure out which part is being negated 好きになるというのは自分の一番皮膚の薄い柔らかい場所を差し出すことでしか成立しない I translated it as: whoever the person you come to love is your biggest weakness and then I have no idea…
arry
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Is 君しかこれを知らなくなかった the same as 君だけこれを知らなかった?

A: 君だけこれを知らなかった。 A': You are the only person who did not know this. As しか must be followed by a negative predicate then I have to write as B: 君しかこれを知らなくなかった。 Confirmation question Is 君しかこれを知らなくなかった the same as 君だけこれを知らなかった? Edit Based on the…
Second Person Shooter
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Is using「ありませんが」correct here?

背景とかってどうやって描いてるのかすごく気になってたので絶対買います！ソフトはクリスタしかありませんが。 I'd like to understand this better. The context is an artist announced that he is releasing a book about painting digital backgrounds and the above line is one of the comments made by another…
taiga
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When using しか, which part do we have to negate?

I want to say "Mathematics is the only thing I trust." using しか. But I am not sure which part I have to negate. Which one is the correct one? A or B? A: 数学しか信頼できるものじゃない。 B: 数学しか信頼でないものだ。
Second Person Shooter
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Do わずかに and しか alter the negation of negative verb to make the meaning positive?+Cases when 行っていません expresses the past?

私は学校へわずかに二ヶ月しか行っていません。 Translation was: I only went to school for barely 2 months. My understanding of the sentence was: 2)[I don't/didn't go to school for barely 2 months only]. Why would 1) be correct and 2) wrong? 3)If the sentnece were:…
raruna
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