まま / っぱなし / きり

Maintaining state · carelessly left · only / since that last time

'I got into the pool with my clothes on.' 'Left the TV on and fell asleep.' 'Just the two of us.' 'We haven't spoken since that day.' — three very Japanese ways to describe states.

What you'll learn

• まま = neutral state maintenance ('as is / without changing')
• っぱなし = carelessly left in a state (implies it should have been stopped)
• きり (limiting) = 'just / only / exclusively' (二人きり)
• きり (final) = 'since doing once, nothing more followed' (会ったきり)

JLPT N3 Japanese self-study — interactive practice, instant feedback, completely free.