밖에 (bakke) means "only (with a negative)".
Means 'nothing but'. Needs a negative verb (or a rhetorical question).
Checked against the official learner dictionary from the National Institute of Korean Language
- The verb must be negative: 없다 eopda, 안 an, 못 mot or 모르다 moreuda.
- The one exception is a rhetorical question: 실패하기밖에 더하겠어요? silpaehagibakke deohagesseoyo "What's the worst that can happen, I fail?"
Build it
When to use it
Only, and not enough
It sounds like less than you wanted.
The only one
Literally "nothing outside of".
Limited ability
With 못 mot: "can only".
Watch out
Never with a positive verb, even though English "only" sounds positive.
With a positive verb, use 만 man instead.
In context
8 examples- 1
만 원밖에 없어요.
Man wonbakke eopseoyo.
I only have 10,000 won.
- 2
너밖에 안 보여.
Neobakke an boyeo.
I only see you.
- 3
시간이 10분밖에 안 남았어요.
Sigani 10bunbakke an namasseoyo.
There are only ten minutes left.
- 4
저는 한국어를 조금밖에 못해요.
Jeoneun hangugeoreul jogeumbakke motaeyo.
I can only speak a little Korean.
- 5
이 방법밖에 없어요.
I bangbeopbakke eopseoyo.
This is the only way.
- 6
아침에 커피밖에 안 마셨어요.
Achime keopibakke an masyeosseoyo.
All I had this morning was coffee.
- 7
그 사람 이름밖에 몰라요.
Geu saram ireumbakke mollayo.
All I know is that person's name.
- 8
어제 세 시간밖에 못 잤어요.
Eoje se siganbakke mot jasseoyo.
I only got three hours of sleep last night.
Practice
8 questions시간이 10분밖에 남았어요.
Sigani 10bunbakke namasseoyo.
There are only ten minutes left.
밖에 vs 만
Both translate as "only", and you can often say the same thing either way:
- 커피만 마셨어요. keopiman masyeosseoyo "I only drank coffee." A plain fact.
- 커피밖에 안 마셨어요. keopibakke an masyeosseoyo "All I drank was coffee." With a sense that it wasn't much.
The difference is the feeling. 만 man just limits, and it works with any verb. 밖에 stresses that it's less than you'd want or expect, and it needs a negative verb. The 만 vs 밖에 comparison goes through more pairs side by side.
Careful with 알다 and 모르다
Because 밖에 flips the verb to a negative, "only I know" comes out with 모르다 moreuda · not know:
- 이건 저밖에 몰라요. igeon jeobakke mollayo "Only I know this." Literally, "nobody outside of me knows this".
It can also mean "I only care about myself", so in a sentence that could be read either way, 저만 알아요 jeoman arayo is the clearer choice for "only I know".
Not the same as the noun 밖
밖 bak on its own is a normal noun meaning "outside", and it takes ordinary particles: 밖에 나가요 bakke nagayo · I'm going outside. That 밖에 is "outside" + 에, not the "only" particle. Context makes it obvious: the "only" one attaches right after a word, with no space, and is followed by a negative verb.
Compare with similar particles
Hanja in this lesson
Words from the examples that are written with Chinese characters. Tap a character to see its page.
Look it up in the dictionary
The entry for 밖에 in two trusted Korean dictionaries.
