connective N4 essential politewritten

しかし — however / but

しかし

Meaning

however / but / nevertheless — opens a sentence that contrasts with the previous one

Key sentence

計画けいかくは良よかった。しかし、失敗しっぱいした。

The plan was good. However, it failed.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Start of a sentence	[Sentence]。しかし、[contrasting sentence]。	努力どりょくした。しかし、勝かてなかった。

When: Formal and written-leaning; common in essays, news, and speeches. In casual conversation でも or けど does the same job.

Examples

値段ねだんは高たかい。しかし、品質ひんしつは確たしかだ。

The price is high. However, the quality is reliable.

彼かれは若わかい。しかし、経験けいけんは豊富ほうふだ。

He is young; nevertheless, he has plenty of experience.

Easily confused with

が (but) が joins the two clauses inside one sentence (高たかいが、買かう); しかし stands at the head of a new sentence. Both are formal. けどけど is the casual, spoken 'but'; しかし is formal and written. Same contrastive meaning, opposite ends of the register scale.

Notes

In everyday speech the sentence-initial 'but' is usually でも, not しかし — でも安やすくない ('but it's not cheap').

See しかし in real sentences

Jengo shows しかし the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar, A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.

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