A little help with this sentence please: 百円しかない。

[AmayaSakurai]

Hello everyone!

I have a question about this sentence.

百円しかない。

It says that the translation should be: I only have 100 yen.

My question:

Because of the ない (there isn't/doesn't exist), why wouldn't this sentence mean "I don't EVEN have 100 yen." ??? And how would you say that then?

 

[Toritoribe]

All of ない in Japanese are not ALWAYS equivalent to "not" in English.
e.g.
ほとんどお金を持っていない。
I have little money.

少しだけお金を持っている/少しはお金を持っている。
I have a little money.


I don't even have 100 yen.
百円さえ（持ってい）ない。

 

[AmayaSakurai]

All of ない in Japanese are not ALWAYS equivalent to "not" in English.
e.g.
ほとんどお金を持っていない。
I have little money.

少しだけお金を持っている/少しはお金を持っている。
I have a little money.


I don't even have 100 yen.
百円さえ（持ってい）ない。

Thank you for the explanation! I guess I took the meaning of ない for granted a little bit...

Thank you!

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Hello everyone!
I have a question about this sentence.
百円しかない。
It says that the translation should be: I only have 100 yen.
My question:
Because of the ない (there isn't/doesn't exist), why wouldn't this sentence mean "I don't EVEN have 100 yen." ??? And how would you say that then?

I don't know how good your English is, but here is a pretty literal translation of your sentence:

There is naught but 100 yen.

 

[AmayaSakurai]

I don't know how good your English is, but here is a pretty literal translation of your sentence:
There is naught but 100 yen.

Oooooooooooooooow!!!!!!! I totally get it now! Thank you!!! XD