LEARN + JAPANESE / Note 152 JLPT N4
Not Just This, But Also (だけでなく〜も)
だけでなく attaches after a noun, adjective, or plain verb form and means “not just this,” always paired with も later in the sentence to add the extra item, “not just X, but Y too.”
In my Japanese class, we practice not just easy kanji, but difficult ones too.
In my Japanese class, we read not just the textbook, but Japanese newspapers too.
In Real Life
だけ, which you already know, sets a limit, “only this.” だけでなく actively denies that limit, “not only this,” always followed by も to name what else belongs in the picture, together forming a single, deliberate correction to a too-narrow assumption.
This fridge's door opens from both the right and left, and it can make plenty of ice too.
Yes, and it's not just close to the station, it's new too.
In Real Life
In casual speech, だけでなく often shortens to だけじゃなくて, functionally identical but a bit more relaxed, common when listing several selling points of something, an apartment, a product, a plan.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| textbook | |
| speech contest | |
| refrigerator | |
| ice | |
| washing machine | |
| image, picture | |
| air conditioner | |
| air | |
| scenery, view | |
| landlord | |
| safe | |
| rent | |
| to add | |
| scope, range | |
| not limited to | |
| to emphasize | |
| both | |
| advantage | |
| sufficient | |
| to correct |