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> 3日前に会ったばかりだ  
>  I saw him just three days ago (given translation)

ばかり is one of those particles that confuses me. Doesn't 会ったばかりだ mean "I just
met him"? i.e. there has not been enough time for anything else to happen
since I met him. So how can this work with 3日前に?

If I had to put ばかり anywhere in this sentence (and that is the point of the
exercise) I would have written 3日前ばかりに会った. Would that be wrong? Does it have a
different nuance?
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2021-08-16T20:48:44.823
88942
2021-12-30T01:38:18.797
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question
grammar particle-ばかり
Use of ばかり with extended periods of time
ばかり on it’s own has many meanings that are not necessarily related to time.
たばかり is a sentence pattern which indicates that the incident happened
relatively recently.

たところ means that happened strictly “just now”. たばかり does not have an absolute
time limit.

Source: <http://www.edewakaru.com/archives/9348750.html>
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2021-08-16T23:22:58.340
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answer
The accepted answer to the
[link](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2681/43676) in the comments or
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/69520/43676) should answer your
first question.

As for 3日前ばかりに会った, I’m afraid it is totally wrong. 3日前 already refers to a
specific point of time and there is little ばかり can do with it. It might still
play some role with 3日, which is a duration, but 3日ばかり前に会った doesn’t mean what
you want it to mean. It basically means the same as 3日ほど前に会った as ばかり in this
position means “approximately,” not “just.”

[This](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/86276/43676) might help you
understand why ばかり in the sense of “just” doesn’t work the way you think it
does.
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2021-08-22T06:53:52.577
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2021-12-30T01:38:18.797
2021-12-30T01:38:18.797
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answer