modality N1 uncommon politewritten
〜限りだ — extremely ~ / couldn't be more ~
〜限りだ ・ かぎりだ
Meaning
- extremely ~ / couldn't be more ~ — expresses an emotion felt at its very utmost
Key sentence
君に会えて、嬉しい限りだ。
I couldn't be happier to see you.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Emotion i-adjective (plain) or na-adjective + な | 感情形容詞 + 限りだ | 羨ましい限りだ / 残念な限りだ |
Examples
一人で過ごす正月は、寂しい限りだ。
Spending New Year's alone is as lonely as can be.
皆さんに祝っていただき、ありがたい限りです。
Being celebrated by everyone, I couldn't be more grateful.
若手の活躍は、頼もしい限りだ。
The young players' performance couldn't be more reassuring.
When you can't use it
- Only attaches to adjectives of EMOTION (嬉しい, 寂しい, 羨ましい, 残念だ), describing the speaker's own feeling. Not for ordinary descriptive adjectives (✗ 高い限りだ).
Easily confused with
〜限り Same 限 kanji, unrelated meaning. 〜限り(は) is the conditional 'as long as ~.' 〜限りだ is a fixed predicate attaching to an emotion adjective: 'I couldn't be more ~.' 〜といったらない Both push an emotion to its peak. といったらない is colloquial and reacts to overwhelming degree of any kind (good or bad). 限りだ is a more composed, written expression of the speaker's own heartfelt feeling.
See 〜限りだ in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜限りだ the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.