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If someone says それだけ、食べないでください, does it mean:

  1. Please don't eat only that [eat other things too!]

or

  2. [You can eat anything you like but] only that, please don't eat it.

* * *

What about それだけ、たべてください? Does it mean:

  1. Please eat only that [and don't eat anything else].

or

  2. [I don't really care if you eat anything else but] only that, please eat it.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-22T08:56:53.023
1405
2011-06-24T01:17:48.837
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
264
question
grammar usage
sometimes だけ gets mildly confusing..
As the comments to the question state, I guess it's just very ambiguous. Real
life would probably provide you with something like "everything else is ok,
but…" or "if there is no other choice but to do so, then…"

Anyway, without context, for the first sentence, I would lean towards "please
don't eat this one" ("it's for the boss").

For the second sentence, however, it just seems a bit weird to say "please
only eat that" :) One would rather say "それだけ食べていいですよ" (you may only eat this),
so I would understand "at least, eat that".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-22T09:48:18.427
1406
2011-06-22T09:48:18.427
356
1405
answer
This is really ambiguous and depends on how it's stressed/paused:

> それだけ食べないでください。  
>  "Please don't eat _only_ that."
>
> それだけ、食べないでください。  
>  "Please don't eat that. (Eat anything else.)"

The actual sentence seems to have been this though:

> それだけは、食べないでください。  
>  ^

That marks それだけ as the _topic_ , which clearly means _" Please don't eat
that."_
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-22T10:06:06.643
1407
2011-06-22T10:17:55.293
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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88
1405
answer