～てばかりいる — Doing Nothing But
Says that someone does nothing but a single action, repeating it constantly to the exclusion of everything else. It usually carries criticism or complaint about an excessive, one-track behavior ('always just playing', 'does nothing but complain').
Structure
[Verb て-form] + ばかりいる
Examples
弟はゲームをしてばかりいる。
Otouto wa geemu o shite bakari iru.
My little brother does nothing but play games.
して (て-form of する) + ばかりいる = only playing, critical tone
彼は文句を言ってばかりいて、何もしない。
Kare wa monku o itte bakari ite, nani mo shinai.
He does nothing but complain and never acts.
言って (て-form of 言う) + ばかりいる = constant, excessive complaining
泣いてばかりいないで、前を向こう。
Naite bakari inaide, mae o mukou.
Stop just crying all the time and let's look ahead.
泣いて (て-form of 泣く) + ばかりいる = doing only that one thing
• Usually critical — the behavior is seen as excessive or unproductive. • いる can conjugate (ばかりいた, ばかりいないで, etc.). • Contrast with noun + ばかり, which means 'only / nothing but (that thing)'.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～てばかりいる is tested against.
vs [Noun] + ばかり
Noun + ばかり means 'only that thing' (お菓子ばかり食べる); ～てばかりいる focuses on repeating one action to excess.
vs ～たばかり
～たばかり means 'just did (recently)'; ～てばかりいる means 'always doing nothing but' — an ongoing habit, not recency.
More emphasis
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