文法Grammar Point
shika nai · JLPT N4
しか〜ない means “only / nothing but”. It is a JLPT N4 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.
A free one-page study card for しか〜ない (only / nothing but), JLPT N4: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.
千円しかありません is “I only have a thousand yen.” What makes it different from だけ is attitude: しか〜ない frames the amount as insufficient or disappointing, where だけ is neutral. It also replaces は, が and を rather than stacking with them, so 水だけ飲む becomes 水しか飲まない, never ×水をしか飲まない.
構文Construction
Noun + しか + negative verb
千円しか持っていません。 — I only have a thousand yen on me.
It replaces は / が / を (but keeps に, で, から)
日本語しか話せません。 — I can only speak Japanese.
Verb (dictionary form) + しかない — “there’s nothing to do but”
もう待つしかない。 — There’s nothing left to do but wait.
With other particles, しか follows them: 〜にしか ・ 〜でしか
ここでしか買えません。 — You can only buy it here.
例文In a sentence
財布に百円しか入っていません。
昨日は三時間しか寝ていない。
こうなったら、やるしかない。
注意点Nuances
練習Your Turn
Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.
これを なおすには、いたちさんに おもいきり おならを させるより しかたは ありません。
— from Goose's Birthday (N4)
この猫は鼠を一匹も捕らぬくせに泥棒猫で、近所から嫌われていましたが、「ニャーニャーゴロゴロ」とおべっかを使うのが上手なので、この家の人に可愛がられていました。
— from The Thief Cat (N3)
鼠ではなく、どうしても人間が何かしているとしか思われませんでした。
— from Yukiko's Burglar Foil (N3)
どうしても起きられない。杖はどこまでももぐるし身体ももぐる。どうしても三分以上はもがかねばならない。
— from Ski Diary at Goshiki Hot Springs (N1)
Appears in 6 of 367 texts in our library.
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解説Background
しか〜ない sits at JLPT N4 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses しか〜ない and pull its example sentences out of them.
The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (Goose's Birthday and The Thief Cat among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.
質問Questions
Because the two halves make the meaning together. しか marks the one thing that is included, and ない excludes everything else — literally “apart from a thousand yen, there isn’t any”. Neither half means “only” on its own.
だけ is neutral (“just this much”), while しか〜ない adds disappointment (“only this much, unfortunately”). 二人だけ来た simply reports two people came; 二人しか来なかった says you expected more.
No. しか replaces は, が and を: 水しか飲まない, not ×水をしか飲まない. It does sit after the other particles, though — にしか, でしか, からしか are all correct.
Yes. A free one-page しか〜ない (only / nothing but) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N4 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.
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