Grammar › Extent & Frequency
ばかり — “just, only, nothing but”
Says something happened moments ago, or that one thing dominates to the exclusion of others
ばかり has two common N3 uses: after た-form, it means something just finished (食べたばかりです — I just ate); after a noun or て-form, it means “only/nothing but” — 遊んでばかりいる (does nothing but play). Both senses share the core idea of one thing filling the whole frame, whether in time or in kind.
How to form it
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| Past plain + ばかり | 着いたばかりです — I just arrived |
| Noun/て-form + ばかり | お菓子ばかり食べている — He eats nothing but sweets |
Example sentences
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| このパソコンは買ったばかりです。 | このぱそこんはかったばかりです。 konopasokonhakattabakaridesu。 | I just bought this computer. |
| 彼はいつも文句ばかり言っている。 | かれはいつももんくばかりいっている。 karehaitsumomonkubakariitteiru。 | He does nothing but complain. |
| 最近、雨ばかり降っていますね。 | さいきん、あめばかりふっていますね。 saikin、amebakarifutteimasune。 | It's been nothing but rain lately, hasn't it. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese sentence to hear it; kanji link to their study pages.
Watch out
食べたばかり (just ate) uses the past-tense plain form; don't confuse it with 食べてばかり (does nothing but eat), which uses the て-form — one letter of grammar, two very different meanings.