I have problems with two grammar constructions that I don't know.  
The first is ほどしかない and the following is the sentence:

> 手の爪ほどしかない小ささで、僕が確かめた限り、1〜4階層のモンスターから出てくるのはみんなこんなものだ
>
> It is not larger nail of one hand and as far as I have verified the same,
> are all this as those that come out from 1 to 4 classes of monsters.

“ほどしかない小ささ” does it mean “as small as”?

The second grammar construction is 行かないといけないから and the following is the
sentence:

> 最初に仕留めた二匹のところにも行かないといけないから、呆けている時間はないんだった
>
> I first had to go where there were two killed and I was completely absorbed
> by it, because there was no time

Does this grammar construction “行かないといけないから” mean “must go?”
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-10T10:40:59.330
32791
2016-03-11T13:48:49.507
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
13567
question
grammar
What do ほどしかない and 行かないといけないから mean?
> 手の爪ほどしかない小ささで、僕が確かめた限り、1〜4階層のモンスターから出てくるのはみんなこんなものだ。  
>  It's just about the size of a fingernail, and as far as I have checked, the
> ones (items?) that come from the monsters in Layers 1-4 are all like this.

  * ～ほど: about ～
  * ～しかない: only, as small as

A more literal translation of 手の爪ほどしかない would be "only _about_ the size of a
fingernail", but "as small as a fingernail" is perhaps fine, too.

> 最初に仕留めた二匹のところにも行かないといけないから、呆けている時間はないんだった。  
>  I have to go to the place of the two (monsters(?)) I hunted first, so there
> is no time to idle.

You seem to be having trouble with the basic usage of ～から. `AだからB` means "B
because A" or "A, therefore/so B."

行かないといけない means, yes, "have to go," and it's a very common pattern. See [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/25707/5010).

And this た at the end of the sentence does _not_ represent past tense, but
indicates he has just realized the fact ("there is no time"). (See ④ in [this
article](http://blog.livedoor.jp/veritedesu/archives/1919303.html))
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-10T18:23:28.823
32805
2016-03-11T13:47:05.030
2017-04-13T12:43:48.447
-1
5010
32791
answer