Page 311 - Basic Japanese

The other common way to say ‘only’ is to use the particle

shika ‘but only.’ This particle is always followed by the
negative; shika + the negative has about the same meaning

as dake + the affirmative: Kudamono dake kaimashita =

Kudamono shika kaimasen deshita ‘I only bought fruit; I bought
nothing but fruit.’ The basic meaning of shika is something

like ‘(nothing) but, except for.’ So Tanaka-san shika kimasen
deshita means something like ‘except for Mr. Tanaka

(somebody) didn’t come,’ that is: ‘ONLY Mr. Tanaka came.’

The particle shika, like the particle dake, usually does not
occur together with the particles ga or o. If it occurs with

other particles, the others precede shika. With dake it is more
common for the other particles to follow:

Sensei dake ni Sensei ni shika

iimashita. iimasen deshita.

I told only the teacher. I told only the teacher.

If you want to use ‘only’ + a negative in English (‘Only
the teacher I didn’t tell’), you have to use dake in Japanese,

since shika + the negative would give just the opposite

meaning:

Sensei dake ni iimasen

deshita.