Just Finished: 〜たばかり vs 〜たところ

We now have two ways of expressing that an action has just taken place. For example, “I’ve just finished eating”.

ご飯はんを食たべたところです。

ご飯はんを食たべたばかりです。

So what’s the difference? Well, firstly ところ is more flexible because it can be used with the present, present participle, and past tense, as we saw before.

料理りょうりを作つくるところです。(✔)

料理りょうりを作つくっているところです。(✔)

料理りょうりを作つくったところです。(✔)

ばかり (when meaning “just finished”), on the other hand, can only be used with the past tense.

料理りょうりを作つくるばかりです。(✘)

料理りょうりを作つくっているばかりです。(✘)

料理りょうりを作つくったばかりです。(✔)

Objective vs. Subjective Time

Let’s compare ところ and ばかり when they are used with the past tense. One critical point to note is that ところ is based on objective time—emphasising that the action has literally taken place at that exact moment. ばかり is based on subjective time—meaning it relies on the speaker’s feelings, and can be used even if months or years have passed.

あのデパートができたばかりです。(✔)

That department store has just been completed.

あのデパートができたところです。(✘)

That department store has literally just this second been completed.

The sentence with ところ implies that you’ve just seen the final brick being put in place. Because we probably mean that the building has been built relatively recently (say, a few weeks ago) rather than literally just now, we need to use ばかり. In other cases where the action did just happen, they can be used interchangeably.

改札機かいさつきを出でたばかりです。(✔)

I’ve just come out of the ticket gates.

改札機かいさつきを出でたところです。(✔)

I’ve just come out of the ticket gates.

A Critical Difference: Modifying Nouns

A major grammatical difference between the two is how they interact with other nouns. Because ばかり functions like a noun itself, you can use the particle の to modify a following noun. You cannot do this with ところ.

これは、買かったばかりの時計とけいです。(✔)

This is a newly bought watch.

これは、買かったところの時計とけいです。(✘)

This is a newly bought watch.

Implying a Reason

Finally, ばかり is often used to subtly imply a reason or explanation for a current state, whereas ところ simply states a temporal fact.

この靴くつを買かったところです。

I’ve just bought these shoes [Factual emphasis on the time].

この靴くつを買かったばかりです。

I’ve just bought these shoes [Explanation: That’s why they look so new / That’s why I don’t want to get them dirty].

Warning: The “Other” ばかり. Earlier we stated that ばかり can only be used with the past tense. You may eventually come across a sentence like this: 「ゲームをしてばかりいる」. Do not confuse this! When ばかり is used with the te form of a verb, it is a completely different N3 grammar point that means “doing nothing but X” (e.g., “He is doing nothing but playing games”). If you want to say “just finished,” you must stick strictly to the simple past tense (たばかり).