aspect N4 common casualpolitewritten
〜たばかり — just ~ed
〜たばかり ・ たばかり
Builds on た形
Meaning
- just ~ed — an action that finished recently, as the speaker feels it
Key sentence
さっき昼ご飯を食べたばかりだ。
I just ate lunch a moment ago.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb (た-form) | V-た + ばかり | 起きる → 起きたばかり |
Examples
この会社に入ったばかりで、まだ慣れていない。
I just joined this company, so I'm not used to it yet.
買ったばかりのスマホを落としてしまった。
I dropped my phone that I'd only just bought.
彼は日本に来たばかりらしい。
Apparently he's only just come to Japan.
Easily confused with
Notes
- Because たばかり is subjective, it pairs naturally with comments about freshness or inexperience (買ったばかりなのに壊れた — it broke even though I just bought it).
See 〜たばかり in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜たばかり the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.