Thread: I've just...
View Single Post
(#2 (permalink))
Old
KyleGoetz's Avatar
KyleGoetz (Offline)
Attorney at Flaw
 
Posts: 2,965
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
12-05-2010, 11:39 PM

There's a difference (or, rather, a couple).

http://nihongo-online.jp/tree02/tree...ako=1&log=6752 explains it well, along with the follow up posts.

I. Short time span: difference
たばかり is a shorter time span that has passed than たところ. For example, 駅に着いたばかりだ is a bit like "I just arrived at the station [and am literally walking around carrying my bags having just gotten off the train]." 駅に着いたところだ could be more like you've just arrived, have found a place to sit, and have gotten out your map to plan where to go from there.

A response to the link above has explained this difference as:
ばかり:*gets off train* I just arrived!
ところ:*gets off train* I just arrived, *wonders what to do next* (次には...)

A little more time for thought/reflection has passed for ところ than ばかり.

II. Long time span: Speaker's feeling
Furthermore, たばかり can have had a lot longer time pass so long as it still feels like a short period of time to the speaker. (kind of related to the lack of ability to reflect, as mentioned in part I above)

For example, if you just got married six months ago, and you're amazed at how fast time is going, 六ヶ月に結婚したばかりなので、まだ新婚者だ is possible. Using ところ there would be wrong.

On a side note, it's amazing how easy it is to easily get grammar questions answered via Google now that I can read upwards of 1500 kanji!

Last edited by KyleGoetz : 12-05-2010 at 11:44 PM.
Reply With Quote