Translating "I heard that Murakami passed the exam by studying for just one week" in two ways.

Hi all. I was wondering if it is possible to get a slight variation on a translation on a sentence. The English sentence is: I heard that Murakami passed the exam by studying for just one week. In the textbook the Japanese for this is

"村上君は一週間勉強だけであの試験に通ったそうだす

I'm wondering if you can also use the しかない form to make a similar sentence. For example:

村上君は一週間勉強しかなかったのにあの試験に通ったそうだす。

Is this second translation an acceptable translation of the English sentence? If so, what do you think of its use case or likelihood of being used in the real world when compared to the original translation.

Thank you.

I'll try to help, but keep in mind that my Japanese is pretty rusty at this point. I can say that the しかない version above doesn't sound like something I'd expect to hear in normal conversation. I would think that something like

村上君は勉強期間が一週間しかなかったのにあの試験に通ったそうです。

would be a better way to incorporate that particular point of grammar. Let's wait for a second opinion.

GenjiMain said:

Hi all. I was wondering if it is possible to get a slight variation on a translation on a sentence. The English sentence is: I heard that Murakami passed the exam by studying for just one week. In the textbook the Japanese for this is

"村上君は一週間勉強だけであの試験に通ったそうだす

I'm wondering if you can also use the しかない form to make a similar sentence. For example:

村上君は一週間勉強しかなかったのにあの試験に通ったそうだす。

Is this second translation an acceptable translation of the English sentence? If so, what do you think of its use case or likelihood of being used in the real world when compared to the original translation.

Thank you.

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I think you miswrote the textbook answer in that it should end with です not だす.
I'd probably say
村上君は一週間しか勉強しなかったのにあの試験に通ったそうです。

There is another typo 一週間勉強しただけで or 一週間の勉強だけで, isn't it?


～しかない is an emphasized form of ～がある when it's attached to a noun.
e.g.
机の上に本がある。
There is a book/There are books on the desk.

机の上に本しかない。
There is only a book/There are only books on the desk.

As you can see, ない is the negative form of ある in ～しかない. Thus, 勉強しかなかった means "there was only studying/only studying existed".

On the other hand, 勉強しかしなかった is an emphasized form of 勉強をした. (Notice that it's not the negative form of the -suru verb 勉強する.) Needless to say, しない is the negative form of する here.

一週間勉強しかしなかった means "he did only studying/he did nothing else but studying for a week." since しか emphasizes the noun right before it. That's why しか must be put right after 一週間, as in 勉強期間が一週間しかなかった by Mikawa-san or 一週間しか勉強しなかった by mdchachi-san.