Number + しか～ない・Number + もない

Introduction

We gotta get those numbers up, chief!!! Those are low, low, rookie numbers! I've never seen such low quantities!

Today we'll talk about expressing a low amount of something, and we'll be using a couple of old friends to do so. So get your math brain ready because this lesson is all about—

Not having enough of something

Structure

• 

  Nounもない
  Example:
  → 車くるまもない。
  "(I) don't even have a car.”

This lesson will mostly focus on quantities, but first I'd like to introduce you to a more generic usage of 〜もない. Basically, you can use 〜もない with any old noun. This creates a "not A and also not B effect". Like so:

How sad! Anyways, you can split up both things across two sentences or combine them using other grammar like て-form. Let's see an example of that.

I wonder what color it is, haha.

Hope you like walking.

Okay, that's all for the nouns, now let's zoom in a bit on numbers in particular.

Numbers, but not enough of them

Structure

• 

  Numberしか〜ない
  Example:
  → 5個ごこしかないよ。
  "There are only five.”

• 

  Numberも〜ない
  Example:
  → 5個ごこもないよ。
  "There's not even five.”

Remember your lesson on だけ and しか from back in Beginner? Well, しか is back, and it's ready for business. If you remember the previous lesson, you might recall that しか has a slight negative nuance, wherein it describes the amount of something as "lacking". That will remain true for this lesson too! Let's take a look by running through some scenes.

しか〜ない

Scenario: maybe you're looking in the fridge, and you find that you have significantly less fruit than you thought.

Here's another scenario: out for a pizza dinner with your best buds? Don't let them finish off the Hawaiian before you've had your fill...

Don't be caught off-guard by the fact that a verb comes in-between しか and ない. They won't always be back-to-back in a sentence!

Another scenario: you're stranded in the forest, surrounded by titans, and running out of options.

Pretty straightforward right? We're simply stating a number and then saying that that's all there is. In fact, this isn't any different from what you learned back in beginner. But we're going to build on this concept using:

も〜ない

Scenario: Let's say you were really excited to play some pick-up soccer with your friends, but you're really disappointed by how many people showed up.

Scenario: You put off that really important thing and now the deadline is approaching...

Scenario: You found a nice pair of shoes but they were more expensive than you were expecting.

So as you can see, the main difference between しか and も, is that も has the nuance of the amount "not even reaching X". So, you can use しか to express an exact amount, and も to express that a given amount is less than X.

Let's compare them side-by-side, just to make that crystal clear.

Sheesh, I hope you don't find yourself having to say one of these sentences for real!

That's all for this lesson on lacking quantities. Hopefully, you don't think this lesson lacked example sentences! Ahh! Quick, add more!

Heh. Gotcha, now there are nine!

Nooooo! (More example sentences were added after writing this, so this joke might seem to fall a little flat, but actually, I think it has more character now... heh.)

Okay, that's it for this lesson. Let's wrap things up!

Summary

• 

  Both しか〜ない and も〜ない can be used to express a low quantity of something.

• 

  も〜ない expresses that an amount "doesn't even reach X value", while しか〜ない provides an exact quantity.

• 

  Don't be surprised if you find しか or も separated from ない by a negative verb stem!

• 

  You can use もない directly following any noun, not just a quantity. It has a "not A and also not B" effect.