だけ is the most basic way of expressing “only” or “just”, e.g. I’ll just have one drink.
ひとつだけ。
Just one.
私はビールを一杯だけ飲みます。
I’ll just have one drink.
The object particle is often omitted when だけ is used.
私はただのウエートレスだけじゃありません。
I’m not just a waitress.
だけ can also be added to verbs.
カメラの操作は簡単です。ボタンを押すだけです。
The camera is easy to operate. Just push the button.
血を見るだけで気絶します。
Faint at just the sight of blood.
Nothing More Than (しか〜ない)
The particle しか is used with the negative to express that you have nothing more than that thing.
チケットが二枚あります。
I have two tickets.
チケットが二枚しかありません。
I only have two tickets.
１０ドルがある。
I have $10.
１０ドルしかない。
I have just $10.
The insinuation is that the amount you have ($10, two tickets, etc.) is not enough or not a lot. Consequently, there are situations where we cannot use しか〜ない.
お願いがひとつしかありません。(✗)
I have just one favour (to ask).
This is unnatural because the implication is that one favour is not enough, i.e. you should be asking for several. In this case, we would use だけ.
お願いがひとつだけあります。
I have just one favour (to ask).
Another two simple examples to highlight the difference between だけ and しか:
水だけ飲む。
I’ll just drink water.
水しか飲まない。
I drink nothing but water.
しか can be appended to other particles.
お金は担当者にしか払わない。
I will only pay the money to the person in charge.
Note the use of は to place emphasis on the money.
お父さんとしか話しません。
I will only speak to my father.
The particles が and を are always dropped and completely replaced by しか. It is grammatically incorrect to use がしか or をしか.
肉を食べない。
I don’t eat meat.
肉しか食べない。
I only eat meat.
None, Many, Several
Below we look at ways to express none, many, and several.
も〜ない
Of course we already know how to express “none” with the negative.
本がない。
I don’t have a book.
The structure below let’s us emphasise that we don’t even have one.
[One] + [Counter] + も + [Negative Verb]
１ドルもない。
I don’t even have a dollar.
本が一冊もない。
I don’t even have one book.
私はビールを一杯も飲みません。
I won’t drink even one beer.
We can combine question words with も and a negative verb to create the pronouns anything, anywhere, nothing, etc.
何もない。
I have nothing.
どこにも行かない。
I won’t go anywhere.
誰にも会わない。
I won’t meet anyone.
誰とも話さない。
I won’t speak to anyone.
何とも思わない。
I don’t care at all [I don’t think anything].
も〜ある
Used with an affirmative verb the meaning is flipped, allowing us to emphasise that the quantity is a lot. It is the opposite of しか〜ない.
１億ドルもある。
I have as much as one-hundred million dollars.
数時間もかかると思うよ。
I think it will take as much as several hours.
彼女は１時間も話しましたよ。
She spoke for a whole hour.
何【counter】も〜ある
Effectively, this expression is saying that no matter what the number you have at least that many to give us “countless” or—more simply—”many”.
本が何冊もある。
I’ve got countless numbers of books.
昨日はビールを何杯も飲みました。
Yesterday, I drank so many beers.
お店のケーキが大人気です。何個も売れています。
That shops cakes are very popular—they sell untold numbers.
何【counter】か〜ある
With the question particle, the meaning becomes “several”. The use of か makes it an embedded question, as if the speaker is asking themselves what the quantity is.