Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 3: 4/22

ばかりJust, Only, Nothing but

ばっかり, ばっか, ばかし, and ばっかし are all fairly common casual variations of ばかり

Structure

Verb［て］+ ばかり
Noun + ばかり

Details

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    許り

About ばかり

When used after verbs followed by the conjunction particle て, or nouns, the adverbial particle ばかり highlights that 'nothing but (A) is being done', or 'only (A) exists'. In relation to verbs, てばかり is often followed by いる, as a modified version of the standard ている. However, adding いる is not a requirement, and the same nuance may be conveyed without it.

When a sentence consists of a part (A) and a part (B), ばかり will be followed by either で (with verbs or nouns), or いて (only with verbs). This is when ばかり appears directly before the sentence conjunction point, and other combinations are possible (such as ばかりだから).

It should be noted that the で with ばかり here is not the particle で, but the conjunctive form of the auxiliary verb, だ.

Fun Fact

ばかり is rarely seen using kanji, but it originally comes from 許(ばか)り (sometimes 計(はか)る). This kanji means 'to let off', or 'to let through', and implies that (A) is the only thing that is being 'permitted' in a specific situation.

Antonyms

Related

Examples

--:--

    彼(かれ)はいつも嘘(うそ)ばかり言(い)っている。

    He does nothing but tell lies.

    私(わたし)の弟(おとうと)はゲームをしてばかりですよ。

    My little brother does nothing but play video games.

    知(し)らない顔(かお)ばかりだから緊張(きんちょう)する。

    Because there are only/nothing but unfamiliar faces I feel nervous.

    甘(あま)い物(もの)を食(た)べてばかりいると、虫歯(むしば)が増(ふ)える。

    If you only/do nothing but eat sweets, you will have more cavities.

    いつももらってばかりですみません。

    It seems that I do nothing but receive (gifts) from you. Sorry about that.

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ばかり – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (14 in total)

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    English translation:
    only
    nothing but

    Structure:
    Verb[ て ] + ばかり
    Noun + ばかり

    Explanation:
    [ばかり can be used together with verb[ている], if so: verb[て] + ばかり + いる is used. for combining sentences ばかりで is used. In case of verb[ている] both ばかりいて and ばかりで can be used.]

    View on Bunpro

  • elynchbell

    elynchbell

    A suggestion for @pushindawood and the rest of the team

    N+ばかり and Vて+ばかりいる seem different enough that they should be different grammar points with separate examples.

  • conan

    conan

    I couldn’t find it on the site, so I thought I’d mention it since it came up in a book I’m referencing. ばかり with counters. Probably should be its own grammar point. But the book describes it as “counter + ばかり” and means “more or less” or “about”, similar to くらい, but more formal.

  • notgreen

    notgreen

    甘い物をたべてばかりいると、虫歯が増える。[食たべる]
    甘い物をばかりたべていると、虫歯が増える。

    I wonder if the second sentence is also acceptable.

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Hey and welcome on the community forums

    Yes, they are both acceptable, though you don’t really need を.

    So:
    甘い物をたべてばかりいると、虫歯が増える。
    甘い物ばかりをたべていると、虫歯が増える。
    are perfect

    But all of those are acceptable:
    甘い物をたべてばかりいると、虫歯が増える。
    甘い物をばかりたべていると、虫歯が増える。(feels less natural)
    甘い物ばかりをたべていると、虫歯が増える。(feels less natural)
    甘い物ばかりたべていると、虫歯が増える。

    I hope it helps,
    Cheers!

    PS
    I love your avatar

  • darkness_rising

    darkness_rising

    The LearnJapanese link looks to be down and redirects to this: http://learnjapanese.becauseofdreams.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

  • Pushindawood

    Pushindawood

    @darkness_rising Thank you for letting us know so that we could update the Readings section with a different link. Cheers!

  • Johnathan-Weir

    Johnathan-Weir

  • Neko

    Neko

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    The meaning wouldn’t really fit (“all that person chases is dreams”).

    ない indeed doesn’t connect to a subsequent sentence (but that could be addressed, it’s not a limitation of しか…ない specifically).
    There’s also that the negative form of 追いかける is 追いかけない.
    And the particle を is typically left out before しか.

  • Megumin

    Megumin

    I always mix ところ and ばかり and from what I looked up, sometimes they can be interchanged albeit with small different nuances.

    Shouldn’t a hint come up instead of straight up refusing it as wrong or I’m missing something?

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    Just guessing based off where you posted this question. You can’t replace ばかり with ところ on this grammar point because Verb［て］+ ところ isn’t a thing afaik.

    I feel like there usually aren’t hints for ungrammatical alternatives.

  • Megumin

    Megumin

    Probably I posted this on the wrong grammar point, I tried to avoid creating a new one. Quoting from this website:

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    Well I just checked a single sentence for the たばかり grammar point and it gave a warning / hint when attempting to use たところ.

  • Megumin

    Megumin

    You are right, I guess I just either hit one that doesn’t have it (highly unlikely) or I used it the wrong way (more likely).

    Just tried it the other way around and it also gave me the warning/hint.

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