だけ + two questions


**A** Does だけ replaces any particles or do I have to combine every particle
with だけ? e.g. だけを、だけが、だけに ...

**B** How does the meaning of a sentence change when I put dake behind a noun
or before a verb?

  1. だけ in combination with a verb: 私は日本の本をだけ読む。

  2. だけ in combination with a noun: 私は日本の本だけを読む。

Both sentences have the same meaning, right? And only the word order changed?
Can I always choose whether to put だけ behind the noun or in front of the verb?




> A Does だけ replace any particles or do I have to combine every particle with
> だけ? e.g. だけを、だけが、だけに ...

For the most part, it depends on the formality level of the sentence or
rather, the context or situation. In informal speech, we often use 「だけ」
without a particle attached to it. This is true especially with 「を」.

Girls occasionally tell me 「アタシだけ見て！」 instead of 「アタシだけ **を** 見て！」.

When they tell me that I am the only man they can depend on, they would say
「レレさんだけ **が** 頼{たよ}りなの！」. The only girl who omitted that 「が」 was a foreigner.
So I had to correct it for her.

> B How does the meaning of a sentence change when I put dake behind a noun or
> before a verb?
>
> 1.だけ in combination with a verb: 私は日本の本 **をだけ** 読む。
>
> 2.だけ in combination with a noun: 私は日本の本 **だけを** 読む。

It is difficult (or actually impossible) to compare the two sentences because
native speakers would rarely, if ever, form the first sentence using 「 **を**
だけ」. I would not recommend that you use 「をだけ」 even if you learned to use it
someplace.

The second sentence is natural for using 「だけ **を** 」.

This may not be what you wanted to know, but a more natural way to say this
among us native speakers would be:

「私は日本の本 **しか** 読ま **ない** 。」

