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JLPT N3Emphasis

～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').

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Pro lessonUNIT 45 · EMPHASIS

Structure · 形

[Verb て-form] + ばかりいる

Examples · 例文

  • 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

Usage notes · 注意

  • 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.

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