We’ve learnt some in class. The rest are pretty simple. Note, these are mostly nominals, so you can modify them with other classes of words accordingly.

Sources:

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese - Expressing Amounts

Only X / All there is, is X

Learned this one in class already.

Structure: だけ or のみ. Nominal afterwards

のみ is more formal/written, rarely used. だけ more common.

Ex.

これだけですか - “Is this all (you have)?”

五百円だけでは、だめです - “Only 500 yen is not good” / “It only being 500 yen, it is not good”

学生のみが入られる - “Only students are able to enter”

Lack Of Everything Else Besides X

Structure: しか. You get a nominal. MUST end with negative predicate.

Ex.

食べることしかできません - “I can’t do anything besides eat”

これしかありめあせん - “There is nothing but this”

これから頑張るしかない - “From now on, we can’t do anything except try our best”

Alternative: っきゃ can also be used. It is more strong, but rarely used.

Nothing else besides X

Here we are emphasizing that there is so much X, that there is nothing else. While しか emphasizes the lack of everything else. だけ is relatively neutral, without any of these implications.

Structure: ばかり. ばっかり or ばっか in casual situations. Get a Nominal

Ex.

先生と遊ぶばかりでしょうね - “You only hang out with Sensei (all the time), huh?”

最近は仕事ばっかだよ - “Recently, it’s been nothing but work”

Too much of X

By itself, すぎる (過ぎる) means “to exceed”. But when formed specially with other words, the meaning changes (a bit).

Structure: Verbal Stem / Adjectival (i-removed) / Nominal + すぎる. For negatives, remove い from ない and replace with さ, then add すぎる. You end with an ichidan verbal.

また食べ過ぎました - “I ate too much again”

さながきれいすぎるねえ - “Sana is too pretty”

飲みすぎませんでしたよ - “I didn’t drink too much”

高すぎません - “It is not too expensive”

多すぎた - “It was too much”

Note: You can also just use the stem すぎ as a noun.

ゲームをしすぎはだめよ - “Playing too much games is bad”

Excessive amounts (with particles)

Structure: Add the も particle after an amount expression. Implies that the amount is a lot, and too much.

メッセージを三回もしたよ - “I did THREE messages!”

今年、十キロも太っちゃった - “This year, I gained ten WHOLE KG” / “This year, I got ten WHOLE KG fatter…”

Expressing the Extent

Learned this one in class as well.

Structure: ほど can be used as a noun, or directly as a particle.

彼ほど忙しくない - “I am not as busy as him”

Some other usages with this, but I feel it doesn’t really belong here. It’s the one where “the more you X the more you Y”

Amount of Adjective

You get the “amount” version of the adjective

Structure: Adjectival minus i + さ or Nominal + さ

この建物の高さはなんですか - “What is the height of this building?”

さなのきれいさすごいですよね - “The prettiness / beauty of Sana is amazing, isnt it”




Vocab:

Here are some kanji from the lessons that I wasn’t really familiar with at this point:

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