～きり — Only / And Never Since
Has two core meanings: (1) 'only / just' limiting to a single amount, similar to だけ, and (2) after a past-tense verb, 'since X, nothing changed / it never happened again.' The second, more distinctly N3 use expresses that an expected follow-up never came.
Structure
[Noun] + きり ／ [Verb た-form] + きり
Examples
二人きりで話したい。
Futari kiri de hanashitai.
I want to talk just the two of us.
Noun 二人 + きり = 'only the two', limiting sense
彼は出かけたきり、帰ってこない。
Kare wa dekaketa kiri, kaette konai.
He went out and hasn't come back since.
出かけた (past) + きり = 'since going out', with no change after
祖母とは十年前に会ったきりだ。
Sobo to wa juunen mae ni atta kiri da.
The last time I saw my grandmother was ten years ago.
会った (past) + きりだ = met once and never again since
• Two uses: 'only/just' (like だけ) and 'since X, no change' after た-form. • The 'no change' sense implies an expected next step never happened. • っきり is a common emphatic spoken variant.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～きり is tested against.
vs ～だけ
In the limiting sense both mean 'only', but きり adds a finality/exclusivity nuance and, unlike だけ, also has the special 'since then, nothing changed' meaning after a past verb.
vs ～まま
た-form + きり stresses that an expected follow-up never occurred ('went out and never returned'); た-form + まま stresses an unchanged state persisting ('left the window open').
More expressions
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