Degree & Extent

Introduction

Comparing things and expressing degree — too much, about this much, more than — adds precision to your Japanese. These patterns let you go beyond simple adjectives to make nuanced comparisons.

Essential for describing quantities, qualities, and making judgements.

Themes

All Japanese Grammar Basic in This Chapter (13)

1. ～だけ (only, just) だけ A particle that expresses a limit imposed upon something. It indicates that the quantity, extent, or scope of something is restricted to ...
2. ～だけで(は)なく～(も) (not only... but also) だけではなく A compound expression meaning 'not only X but also Y.' It connects two elements to indicate that X alone does not exhaust the relevant sc...
3. ～しか～ない (nothing but, only) しか A particle that marks an element X when nothing but X makes the expressed proposition true. It always requires a negative predicate and e...
4. ～ばかり (nothing but, only) ばかり A particle that indicates something is the only thing or state which exists or occurs, often with an implication of excess. It conveys th...
5. ～ほど (to the extent that, about) ほど A particle that indicates an extent or degree to which someone or something does something, or experiences a state. It can express approx...
6. ～くらい・ぐらい (about, approximately) くらい A particle that indicates an approximate quantity, extent, or degree. It can express rough estimates for amounts, time, and distance, as ...
7. ～ずつ (each, at a time) ずつ A particle that indicates equal distribution of quantity. It expresses that a certain amount applies to each member of a group, or that s...
8. ～まま (as it is, remaining) まま An expression indicating that an already given situation or condition remains unaltered. The state established by the first clause persis...
9. ～あまり～ない (not very, not much) あまり An adverb indicating that the degree of something is not great. When paired with a negative predicate, it means 'not very' or 'not much.'
10. ～ところだ (1) (it takes... to get to) ところ An expression indicating that a place is at a location which takes a certain amount of time or distance to reach. It describes how far so...
11. ～ところだ (2) (about to, in the middle of, just did) ところ An expression indicating that someone or something is in a particular temporal phase of an action: just about to do something, currently ...
12. ～堪らない・たまらない (unbearably, extremely) たまらない An expression indicating that the speaker cannot cope with or endure a situation. It conveys that a feeling, sensation, or desire is so i...
13. ～せっかく (with great effort, going out of one's way) せっかく An adverb indicating that a situation which seldom occurs has now occurred, and one can either make use of it or let it go to waste. It e...