「ただ」と「だけ」はどうちがいますか？

[Joey]

I'm having a little trouble how to differentiate between when I should use ただ and when I should use だけ. Because I usually translate ただ as "just" and だけ as "only" I end up saying ただ a lot more because in english i say "just" a lot more than "only" but yet often I get my teacher's correction telling me to use だけ instead. So I was wondering if there was a different way that I could translate the words in my head so that i wouldnt' get them so confused. Thanks in advance!

[jemstone]

your idea is correct. ただ is "just" while だけ is "only".

ただ is more like "just" with the meaning of "recently". i suppose that's why you say ただいま when you step into your house or someone else's, like saying "i've just stepped into your house."

だけ is more like "only" with the meaning of "limited". for the phrase すこしだけ means "a little only". though in english we can say "just a little" but the meaning of "just" here is more like "only" where it sends the message of "limited".

so in an example, if you say "just 2 dollars!", that is an example of だけ because it's "only 2 dollars".

[Joey]

wow, thanks for the clear explanation! I think i will finally be able to to stop getting them confused now