～てばかり
do nothing but
～てばかり is made from the て-form of a verb plus ばかり (only), usually followed by いる. It means someone “does nothing but” that action, the same thing over and over, usually with a critical or exasperated tone.
Compare this with Noun + ばかり: お菓子ばかり食べる limits the noun (“eats nothing but sweets”), while ～てばかりいる targets the action itself (“does nothing but eat”).
1. Doing the same thing all the time
Use ～てばかりいる to complain that one action fills all of someone's time.
彼は遊んでばかりいる。
“He does nothing but play.”
- 彼（かれ）= he
- は = topic marker
- 遊んで（あそんで）= playing (て-form of 遊ぶ)
- ばかり = nothing but
- いる = is (doing)
2. ～てばかりいないで: “stop just V-ing and...”
The negative て-form ～てばかりいないで tells someone to stop doing only that one thing and do something else instead.
泣いてばかりいないで、話してください。
“Don't just keep crying, please talk to me.”
- 泣いて（ないて）= crying (て-form of 泣く)
- ばかりいないで = instead of doing nothing but
- 話してください（はなしてください）= please talk
How to form it
Verb て-form + ばかり + いる
- 遊ぶ（あそぶ）= to play → 遊んでばかりいる（あそんでばかりいる）= does nothing but play
- 寝る（ねる）= to sleep → 寝てばかりいる（ねてばかりいる）= does nothing but sleep
- 泣く（なく）= to cry → 泣いてばかりいる（ないてばかりいる）= does nothing but cry
Key idea
～てばかりいる paints a picture of one action on endless repeat. The speaker is not just reporting a habit, they are usually frowning at it.
Other N2 grammar
Updated .