Japanese with Manga

Only the ace of spades with 〜だけ

Manga panel from 名探偵コナン showing example of Only the ace of spades with 〜だけ.
名探偵コナン » Volume 12 » Page 20

The Detective Boys group visits a cabin where Professor Agasa has secretly set out clues leading to a treasure. Conan draws the group’s attention to an arrow pointing to a table, on top of which there is…

コナン:
「これまた不自然(ふしぜん)()らばったトランプの(やま)…」
“A pile of cards, rather unnaturally scattered about.”
「しかも、なぜかスペードのAだけ画鋲(がびょう)でとめてある…」
“Further, for some reason, only the ace of spades is pinned down with thumbtacks...”
Literal: “Moreover, for some reason, only the ace of spades has been fastened with thumbtacks...”

Key Points

1スペードのAだけ = only the ace of spades
  • Here だけ singles out one card from the scattered pile.
  • Conan is noticing that only that specific card is being treated differently.
2しかも adds “on top of that”
  • The line builds on the previous observation about the unnatural card pile.
  • しかも signals an additional suspicious detail.
3が marks the card as the thing pinned down
  • スペードのAだけが 画鋲(がびょう)でとめてある means only the ace of spades has been fixed in place with thumbtacks.

See Also

名探偵コナン © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.