Expressions for Numbers and Amounts: も, だけ, しか, ばかり, and すぎる

Last time, you learned how to express comparison, e.g. “田た中なかさんは玉たまねぎより芋いもを食たべます (Tanaka-san eats potatoes more than onions).” Then, if you would like to say, “Tanaka-san eats ONLY potatoes,” what should you say? In this lessons, we will delve deeply into the world of numbers and amounts.

How to Express Numbers and Amounts in Various Ways

In the previous lesson about combined particles, we used the terminology: Focus Particle は and も. By combining them with normal particles such as に and で, you can express detailed nuances. The words that you will learn here can also be categorized into the focus particle group. Thus, please be aware of the following grammatical rules. The basic ones are: (1) Focus particles are replaced with the particle が and を. (2) Apart from が and を, focus particles are attached to particles like には and では.

Focus Particles: も, だけ, しか, and ばかり

Number + も: Surprise

When you attach the focus particle も to numbers, your speech indicates surprise because of the amount. In this context, English translation doesn’t work well, but you may consider this as “even” or “as many as.”

When you use “number + も” in negative sentences. There are some cases where you can interpret it in two ways. You need to judge meanings based on contexts.

だけ and しか…ない: Nothing Except for X

だけ doesn’t indicate that amounts are large or small. The function is to express that people voluntarily limit something. When だけ is used with particles, the grammatical rule will work differently. (1) だけ is sometimes used with the particle が and を together like だけが and だけを. (2) だけ can be attached to particles in the opposite order, i.e. both だけに and にだけ are correct.

Be careful; when you combine だけ with the particle で (means), the order will change the meaning.

For reference, のみ has the same function as だけ, but sounds more formal.  Thus, your speech may sound unnatural if you use のみ in casual tone. In the following examples, only the second one is proper to use such a formal word.

しか is always used with the negative form. The function is to express that there is no option except for X or people reluctantly limit something.

*The third example above is a case where focus particles modify verbs. You may memorize that as a set phrase; "Verb + しかない" indicates "have nothing to do but X." 

Difference between だけ and しか…ない

When だけ is used with the negative form, the difference from しか…ない is very clear. They indicate the opposite meanings.

When だけ is used with the affirmative form, the facts are the same: You ate fish and didn’t eat other foods. However, the nuance is different. だけ indicates you choose to eat only fish at your own will, while しか indicate you have no options to eat other foods or reluctantly eat fish. If you look at English translations, だけ and しか are often translated “only” and “just.” Please focus on the connotations.

ばかり: A Large Numbers or Amounts

The function is to express a large number or amount. ばかり can be also used with the particle が and を like ばかりが and ばかりを. The meaning will vary depending on contexts. Let’s pick up some examples one by one. If you try to naturally translate the following examples, both of them may be “I’m drinking only coke.” However, please be aware of the difference.

Considering the characteristic, だけ is suitable for when you are exclusively doing something. For example, if you want to say “I always watch TV every day,” ばかり is suitable because it’s inevitable that you see something apart from TV in everyday life.

ばかり is sometimes used between the te-form and いる i.e. 見みてばかりいる.

In colloquial expressions, ばかり sometimes becomes ばっかり or ばっか and predicates can be omitted.

すぎる: To Excess or Too Much

This is not a focus particle. Rather it needs to be conjugated. When it comes to i-adjectives, it can be a little tricky.

All Verbs: Utilize the Polite Form and Attach すぎる Instead of ます

I-adjectives: To Replace the Last い with すぎる

Na-adjectives: To Attach すぎる

Negative Forms: To Replace the Last い with さ and Attach すぎる

Note: There are i-adjectives which end with ない like “情なさけない: pitiable, shameful.” Some of such i-adjectives follow the conjugation of the negative form, i.e. 情なさけなさすぎる. You have to memorize those exceptions.

Examples

The function is to express that a number or an amount is too much. You can consider すぎる is the counterpart to “too,” “too much,” and “to excess” in English. This is usually used for bad meanings. However, young generations use this to speak favorably of someone nowadays.

When you point out someone or talk about customary actions or states, you can use ...すぎる as a noun by dropping the last る. Here, the first and the third example are applicable.

Summary

1. Number + も indicates surprise at the amount.
2. だけ indicates you choose to do only X at your own will.
3. しか…ない indicates there is no option to do anything except for X or reluctantly do X.
4. ばかり indicates there is a large amount of something.
5. すぎる indicates there is too much of something.

Congratulations! You have completed the key sentence pattern section. We have picked up the nine major sentence patterns, which are enough to survive in Japan by using Japanese language. Your knowledge about Japanese grammar has greatly increased.