What is the meaning of 私が一方的に憧れてるだけで


Context: A guy asks a girl if someone (another girl) is her friend because she
was with her the day after. This is what she answers. I understand 一方的 means
one sided and 憧れてる is to long for or admire. Full sentence reads as follows:

> あ いやっ... 私が一方的に憧れてるだけで。

The いやっ at the beginning makes me think this is a negative answer. Does this
mean something along the lines of

> No we are not friends, but I admire her.




Going by the context you describe in the question, the meaning of that
response does constitute a negative answer to the effect of something like

> Well, I admire/like her. That's it. The feeling is not reciprocated.

So my rendering is a bit wordy because I am trying to render it in natural
English. Although it is a negative response to the question asked, I don't
think the いや here is a hard, clipped "No". Rather, it is closer to a filler
and better translated as "well" or maybe "well, not really." For more on いや,
see this answer:

[The usage of いや in response to
questions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24967/30454)

一方的に, as you say, means "one-sided", "unreciprocated".

憧れる means something closer to "like". The aspect in the original Japanese line
is continuous (憧れてる, contracted from 憧れている), telling us the action is ongoing,
but I'm reluctant to use the present continuous or the present perfect
continuous. In such situations usually the simple present does the job just
fine, and the other two tense-aspect combinations would sound weird.

だけ is a noun meaning "only", "just", "merely", or "simply"

で is the conjunctive form of copula だ




Going by the context you describe in the question, the meaning of that
response does constitute a negative answer to the effect of something like

> Well, I admire/like her. That's it. The feeling is not reciprocated.

So my rendering is a bit wordy because I am trying to render it in natural
English. Although it is a negative response to the question asked, I don't
think the いや here is a hard, clipped "No". Rather, it is closer to a filler
and better translated as "well" or maybe "well, not really." For more on いや,
see this answer:

[The usage of いや in response to
questions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24967/30454)

一方的に, as you say, means "one-sided", "unreciprocated".

憧れる means something closer to "like". The aspect in the original Japanese line
is continuous (憧れてる, contracted from 憧れている), telling us the action is ongoing,
but I'm reluctant to use the present continuous or the present perfect
continuous. In such situations usually the simple present does the job just
fine, and the other two tense-aspect combinations would sound weird.

だけ is a noun meaning "only", "just", "merely", or "simply"

で is the conjunctive form of copula だ

