Only... Not: 〜しか〜ない

Deepen your command of 〜しか〜ない, especially in longer sentences where it can imply limitation, lack of choice, or emotional pressure.

Use 〜しか〜ない to express strong limitation with a required negative verb.Recognize the nuance difference between だけ and しか〜ない.Interpret how 〜しか〜ない can imply “nothing else” or “no other choice.”

Guided study

Core meaning

〜しか〜ない means “only” or “nothing but,” but unlike だけ it requires a negative predicate. It often sounds more restrictive and can imply that options are limited.

財布に千円しか入っていない。

There is only 1,000 yen in my wallet.

しか must be followed by a negative predicate.

この資料には概要しか書いていない。

Only an outline is written in this document.

The sentence limits the written content to an outline only.

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Only... Not: 〜しか〜ない

Core meaning

Practice guides for this lesson

N3 Japanese grammar lessons

Japanese grammar practice

Japanese grammar lessons