The 副助詞（ふくじょし） (adverbial particle)
しか is often compared to
だけ, in that it also expresses ‘only’. However, unlike
だけ,
しか can only be used in 否定表現（ひていひょうげん） (negative statements). Due to this,
しか～ない is regularly translated as ‘there’s only (A)’, or ‘there’s nothing but (A)’.
しか～ない may be used to express numbers, or nouns. In this lesson we will examine nouns.
Like
しか～ない, the construction used for expressing numbers, when used before a noun, this expression will mean that nothing apart from that one ‘thing’ exists. Any verb may be used after
しか, but it must be in its ない (or ありません) form.
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犯人（はんにん）はまだ3人（にん）しか捕（つか）まていない。
Only 3 of the criminals have been caught so far.
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この店（みせ）は牛丼（ぎゅうどん）しか置（お）いていない。
This store only has gyudon.
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釣（つ）りに行（い）って、一匹（いっぴき）しか釣（つ）れないと悲（かな）しくなる。
I get sad when I go fishing and only catch one fish.
when
しかない directly follows a verb, the translation is a little bit different, and means that ‘nothing apart from (A) can be done’. This is a separate grammar point that we will study a bit later.
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明日（あした）から雨（あめ）が降（ふ）るから、今日（きょう）に行（い）くしかない。
Since it will start raining tomorrow, we have no choice but to go today.