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So, I've been reading a manga and there is a phrase that I can't get. It says:

> 使い物にならなきゃ  
>  素手でやるだけか

Those two sentences are separated.  
So what I understand about is that if the thing is useless he has to use his
bare hands. To give more context they are talking about using a knife.
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2019-05-27T15:12:15.063
68516
2019-05-27T15:56:20.783
2019-05-27T15:56:00.683
9831
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question
grammar manga
Can't understand the meaning of a sentence: 「使い物にならなきゃ 素手でやるだけか」
Let's parse your sentences to try to make it a bit clearer:

> **使い物** = a usable item  
>  **に** = (change of state)  
>  **ならなきゃ** = ならなければ = if it doesn't become / if it isn't  
>  **素手で** = with bare hands  
>  **やる** = do  
>  **だけ** = only / no other option  
>  **か** = question / rhetorical device

You mentioned that the context was that this is about a knife. So we can
separate this into two clauses:

**使い物にならなきゃ** If it's not usable ( _If I can't use this knife_ ),  
**素手でやるだけか** I guess there's no choice but to use my bare hands.

Without the full context, it's a little difficult to decide on the best
translation since I don't know what the character is trying to do. But
hopefully parsing it in that way makes the intended meaning clearer.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-27T15:56:20.783
68517
2019-05-27T15:56:20.783
25875
68516
answer