だけ (dake) — "Only" (Neutral Limit)
Sets a neutral limit or cap on scope, meaning "only this much/only this thing, and nothing more", without any positive or negative feeling attached.
Structure
[Noun / Plain Verb] + だけ
Examples
現金だけ使えます。
Genkin dake tsukaemasu.
We only take cash.
現金 (cash) + だけ (only) — limits the acceptable payment type.
ちょっと待つだけでいい。
Chotto matsu dake de ii.
You just need to wait a little.
Plain verb + だけで = "just by doing ~".
君だけが私の光だ。
Kimi dake ga watashi no hikari da.
Only you are my light.
だけ can stack before case particles like が or を (君だけが).
• Nuance: だけ is emotionally neutral — it simply states a limit without judging it good or bad. • Particle Math: だけ can absorb を (水だけ飲む) but stacks cleanly with に/が (僕だけに教えて = tell only me).
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones だけ is tested against.
vs しか + negative
だけ is neutral and takes a POSITIVE verb (百円だけある = I have exactly 100 yen). しか carries an "insufficient/regret" nuance and requires a NEGATIVE verb (百円しかない = I only have 100 yen…).
vs ばかり
だけ = a strict amount limit; ばかり = "nothing but / always doing" often with a nuance of too much (遊んでばかりいる = does nothing but play).
vs のみ
のみ means the same "only" as だけ but is formal/written; だけ is the everyday spoken form.
More particles
- が (ga) — Subject Marker & Exhaustive Listing
- を (o) — Direct Object & Traversal
- に (ni) — Target, Time, and Existence Location
- で (de) — Context of Action (Location, Means, Condition)
- と (to) — And (Exhaustive), With, and Quotation
- か (ka) — Question, Or, and Uncertain Identity
- の (no) — Possession, Modification, & Nominalization
- も (mo) — Also, Too, Both/And, Emphasized Quantity
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