40002
I was thinking today of how I would describe things in Japanese. One of these
things was 'He's just a boy!', which I more or less worked out to be
「かれがしょうねんですしかよ！」which I THINK is correct, but still feels sorta 'off' to me.
Something about the final noun using the particle 「しか」 AFTER stating the
polite form of it.

Can't really put my finger on it, just feels like something's incorrect about
it, thus I thought to ask.
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2016-10-15T01:10:32.110
39999
2016-10-15T07:15:33.167
2016-10-15T07:15:33.167
9831
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question
grammar
Is 「かれがしょうねんですしかよ！」 grammatically correct? (「です」 before 「しか」?)
しか is used the negative forms of words, usually in a way to indicate the lack
of anything else. To use しか, you probably want to phrase it like

> しょうねんにしか見えない。 (Looks only like a boy)

(Awkward phrasing in English I know...)
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2016-10-15T01:54:51.780
40000
2016-10-15T01:54:51.780
17997
39999
answer
> He's just a boy. He's still just a boy!

I would say...

  * ｛[name]は / この・その・あの子は｝｛まだ or/and ほんの｝子供｛だ/です｝。 

or maybe...

  * ｛[name]は / この・その・あの子は｝｛まだ or/and ほんの｝子供で **しか** ｛ **ない** / **ありません** ｝*。

*As stated in the other answer, しか is used with a negative word/phrase: 「しか～～ない」(= nothing but = only).
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2016-10-15T03:16:54.567
40002
2016-10-15T03:16:54.567
9831
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answer
I would say:  
彼 は ただの 少年 です。  
kare wa tada no shōnen desu.

しか has a different meaning and usage.  
According to "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar", page 398:  
しか: particle which marks an element X when nothing but X makes the expressed
proposition true.

And usually しか is used after a noun, not after です.

です usually comes at the end of the sentence.
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2016-10-15T03:54:42.753
40004
2016-10-15T03:54:42.753
18157
39999
answer