只 (zhī) means Only (merely - but - mw for a pair). Below are 24 of the 26 sentences on this site that use it — with pinyin, an English translation and audio. All of them were written by hand; none is machine generated.
Dictionary examples
树上有两 只 鸟。
Shù shàng yǒu liǎng zhī niǎo.
There are two birds in the tree.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 鸟
房间里 只 有他一个人。
Fángjiān lǐ zhǐyǒu tā yí gè rén.
He is the only one in the room.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 只有
我家离超市 只 有三百米。
Wǒ jiā lí chāoshì zhǐyǒu sānbǎi mǐ.
My home is only three hundred metres from the supermarket.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 米
只 有努力才能提高水平。
Zhǐyǒu nǔlì cái néng tígāo shuǐpíng.
Only through hard work can you improve.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 只有
From the graded readers
那时候 只 要十分钟。
nàshí hòu zhǐyào shífēn zhōng.
Then it only takes ten minutes.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · Going to School
我有一 只 猫，它叫小白。
wǒ yǒu yī zhī māo, tā jiào xiǎo bái.
I have a cat called Xiaobai.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · My Cat
价格也不贵， 只 要三百块。
jiàgé yěbù guì, zhǐyào sānbǎi kuài.
It wasn't expensive either — only three hundred yuan.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · Shopping Online
我们家有一 只 猫，它叫小白。
wǒmen jiā yǒu yī zhī māo, tā jiào xiǎo bái.
We have a cat called Xiaobai.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · My Family
我们没有带伞， 只 好跑回家。
wǒmen méiyǒu dài sǎn, zhǐhǎo pǎo huíjiā.
We hadn't brought an umbrella, so we had to run home.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · A Rainy Day
我住在十一楼， 只 好走楼梯。
wǒ zhù zài shíyī lóu, zhǐhǎo zǒu lóutī.
I live on the eleventh floor, so I had to take the stairs.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · Helping a Stranger
新工作的收入 只 有原来的一半。
xīn gōngzuò de / dì shōurù zhǐyǒu yuánlái de / dì yībàn.
The new job paid half what the old one had.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Changing Jobs
我 只 好坐出租车，花了五十块钱。
wǒ zhǐhǎo zuò chūzūchē, huāle wǔshí kuài qián.
I had to take a taxi, which cost fifty yuan.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · Late for Work
她的行李 只 有一个箱子和一个包。
tā de / dì xíngli zhǐyǒu yīgè xiāngzi hé yīgè bāo.
Her luggage was one suitcase and one bag.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Saying Goodbye
超市离我家很近，走路 只 要十分钟。
chāo shì lí wǒ jiā hěn jìn, zǒulù zhǐyào shífēn zhōng.
The supermarket is close to us — ten minutes on foot.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · At the Supermarket
她 只 回了四个字：“早就没事了。”
tā zhī huí le / liǎo / liào sì gè zì:" zǎo jiù méi shì le / liǎo / liào."
She replied with four words: "It was fine long ago."
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Misunderstanding
我忽然明白，时间带走的不 只 是样子。
wǒ hūrán míngbai, shíjiān dàizǒu de / dì bùzhǐ shì yàngzi.
I suddenly understood that what time takes away isn't only how you look.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · An Old Photograph
我最后还是出门了， 只 跑了十五分钟。
wǒ zuìhòu háishì chū mén le / liǎo / liào, zhī pǎo le / liǎo / liào shíwǔ fēnzhōng.
In the end I went out anyway, and only ran fifteen minutes.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Keeping Up Running
一 只 老狗从院子里慢慢走出来，看了我很久。
yī zhī lǎo gǒu cóng yuànzi lǐ mànmàn zǒu chūlai, kànle wǒ hěn jiǔ.
An old dog came slowly out of the yard and looked at me for a long time.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Going Back Home
早上我给妈妈打电话，她 只 说了几句话就挂了。
zǎoshang wǒ gěi māma dǎdiànhuà, tā zhī shuōle jǐ / jī jù huà jiù guà le / liǎo / liào.
In the morning I rang my mum; she said a couple of words and hung up.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · An Anniversary Surprise
From the grammar library
我家有三 只 猫。
Wǒ jiā yǒu sān zhī māo.
We have three cats.
Grammar library · HSK 1 · Measure words — the top 25
只 appears in 26 sentences on this site; the 24 shortest and most direct are shown. The rest are on the pages they were written for — the graded readers, the phrasebook and the grammar library.
Words that contain 只
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 只
How is 只 used in a sentence?
This page shows 26 sentences using 只 (zhī, "Only (merely - but - mw for a pair)"), each with pinyin, an English translation and audio. Every one of them was written by hand for this site.
Are these sentences machine generated?
No. They come from the site's own dictionary examples, graded readers, travel phrasebook and grammar library — all written by a person. A word with no sentence gets no page here, rather than a page of invented ones.
Why do some sentences show 只 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 只 inside the words it builds is how the character stops being an isolated symbol and starts being something you can read.
Is 只 an HSK word?
Yes — 只 is on the official HSK 3 vocabulary list, and you can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 3 page.
Where can I see the full entry for 只?
The dictionary page for 只 has its stroke order, its traditional form, every sense the dictionary lists and a character-by-character breakdown. It is linked at the top of this page.
Keep going
Read the full entry for 只, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, drill it with HSK 3 flashcards, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
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