Shika, Dake, Bakari, and Mo: Japanese Focus Particles

What a focus particle actually does

Case particles answer the question what role does this word play. Focus particles answer a different question: how should the listener weigh this word against everything else that could have been there. Dake fences a set off, shika fences it off and calls it small, mo opens the fence to let another item in, bakari says the fence has been there too long, and gurai draws it loosely. The core sentence does not change; the speaker's stance does.

That is why these particles matter more for speaking than for reading. A Japanese listener hears sen-en shika arimasen and knows without being told that you would like more money. Getting them right is the difference between reporting facts and sounding like a person with an opinion, which is what conversation is made of. The particles guide on this blog covers the case particles; this one covers the layer that sits above them.

The focus particles at a glance

Kurai and gurai are the same word and both are correct. Gurai is the more common spoken form after a number, and many speakers use them interchangeably without noticing.

Dake states a limit without complaining

Dake attaches straight to a noun, a number, or a plain verb, and it leaves the verb positive. Because it is neutral, it is the safe default when you simply want to report how much or how many. After a verb it produces two very useful shop phrases: miru dake desu when you are browsing, and kaku dake de ii desu when a form needs nothing but a name.

With case particles you have a choice. Nichiyōbi ni dake and nichiyōbi dake ni are both heard, and wa, ga and o are usually just dropped before dake. Adding o back, as in yasai dake o tabemasu, is grammatical and adds a little emphasis, but it is not needed in ordinary speech.

Shika needs a negative verb every time

Shika is the pattern learners forget halfway through the sentence. It replaces wa, ga and o, and the verb that follows must be negative: arimasen, hanasemasen, kimasen deshita, itta koto ga arimasen. There is no positive version. The pay-off is tone, because shika quietly adds the meaning and that is not much, which is exactly what you want when explaining why you cannot do something.

Case particles such as ni, de and to survive, and shika attaches after them: Tōkyō ni shika, kaisha de shika, kazoku to shika. One fixed expression is worth learning whole, since it appears constantly in work talk: suru shika arimasen, meaning there is nothing for it but to do it.

Which particles they replace and which they follow

The rule is simple once stated. Wa, ga and o are swallowed by dake, shika, mo and bakari, so you never say o mo or ga shika. The location and companion particles ni, de, to, kara, made and e stay in place, and the focus particle attaches after them. That gives natural forms such as Kyōto ni mo ikimashita, tomodachi to shika hanashimasen, and uchi de bakari benkyō shite imasu.

• Dropped before a focus particle: wa, ga, o.
• Kept, with the focus particle after them: ni, de, to, kara, made, e.
• Mo follows them directly: ni mo, de mo as two words, to mo, kara mo.
• Dake may go on either side of ni and de: nichiyōbi ni dake or nichiyōbi dake ni.
• Shika goes after the case particle only, never before it.

Bakari means nothing but

Bakari marks a single thing that has crowded out everything else, and it usually carries a note of disapproval. After a noun it needs no other particle: manga bakari yonde imasu. After a verb it takes the te form plus iru, which describes an activity that will not stop: asonde bakari imasu. In casual speech you will hear bakkari and bakka, which are the same word with more feeling.

Because of that tone, be careful where you aim it. About yourself it reads as modest self-criticism, which is often charming. About a customer or a superior it is close to rude, so switch to dake or to a softer sentence with chotto. The complaining flavour is exactly what makes bakari worth learning, though: it is one of the first patterns that lets you sound like you have an attitude rather than a phrasebook.

Ta bakari for something you have only just done

The second life of bakari attaches to the plain past form and means you have only just done something. Kuru becomes kita bakari, hajimeru becomes hajimeta bakari, kau becomes katta bakari. It is subjective: Nihon ni kita bakari desu works months after arrival, because the speaker still feels new. When you want to describe a real moment ago, tokoro is the precise word, as in ima tabeta tokoro desu.

This is one of the most useful excuses in a learner's toolkit. Hajimeta bakari na node, mada heta desu explains your level without apologising for it, and it invites the other person to slow down rather than switch to English. Before a noun the pattern becomes ta bakari no, as in katta bakari no kuruma.

Mo for also, and for as many as

Mo replaces wa, ga and o to mean too, and follows ni, de and to to mean there as well or with them as well. Its second job is quantity. Put mo after a number and the number sounds large to the speaker: san-jikan mo machimashita means three whole hours. Put a small number with mo in front of a negative verb and it means not even that much: ichi-en mo motte imasen, ichido mo atta koto ga arimasen.

This is a cheap way to add feeling to plain reports. Jū-nin kimashita is a count; jū-nin mo kimashita tells the listener you were surprised. Nothing else in the sentence changes, which makes it a good pattern to practise on numbers you already know.

Demo and gurai soften and belittle

Demo has two spoken jobs. After a noun it means even, naming the easiest possible case: kodomo demo wakarimasu, shoshinsha demo daijōbu desu. In an invitation it means or something, and it is the polite way to suggest without pinning the other person down: kōhī demo nomimasen ka. That vagueness is a kindness, because it leaves them room to propose tea instead.

Gurai after a number is simple approximation: sanjuppun gurai kakarimasu. After a noun or a demonstrative it belittles the amount, meaning at least that much, that little. Aisatsu gurai shite kudasai is a mild rebuke, and sore gurai jibun de dekimasu says the task is small enough to handle alone. Keep the belittling use for peers and for yourself.

One sentence, seven feelings

Say the seven aloud in order. The words barely move, but the speaker travels from a neutral report to a mild scolding, and your listener follows that journey even when your grammar elsewhere is shaky.

The mistakes worth checking for

• Leaving the verb positive after shika: sen-en shika arimasen, never sen-en shika arimasu.
• Keeping o before a focus particle: yasai shika tabemasen, not yasai o shika tabemasen.
• Putting shika before a case particle instead of after it: Tōkyō ni shika, not Tōkyō shika ni.
• Using bakari about a customer or a superior when you only meant a neutral limit; use dake.
• Forgetting that ta bakari needs the plain past, so kita bakari and not kimashita bakari.
• Reaching for mo with a number and no feeling behind it; if you are not impressed, drop it.