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> 一人【ひとり】だけ来ました【きました】

is translated as

> only one person came

on page 6-14 of "Learn to Read in Japanese" by Lake and Ura.

Could this also be read as "he/she came alone?" or is there a phrase that is
more suited to that purpose?
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2017-01-21T21:47:57.503
42747
2017-01-22T15:56:34.323
2017-01-22T15:56:34.323
19509
19509
question
usage idioms
一人だけ来ました　potential interpretations
> 「一人{ひとり} **だけ** 来{き}ました」

can only mean:

> "Only one person came."

It cannot mean "He/She came alone." To mean that, we say:

> 「その人{ひと}は一人 **で** 来ました。」 or
>
> 「その人は一人 **だけで** 来ました。」

(I used 「その人」 because it is not common at all to use third-person pronouns in
Japanese.)

To emphasize the "alone" part, we also often say:

> 「～～は **たった** 一人 **で** 来ました。」
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2017-01-21T23:20:33.490
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2017-01-21T23:20:33.490
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer