"I only have a book" vs "I only have one book"

Question

Hi,

I'm wondering about the difference between "I only have a book" and "I only have one book", which mean distinct things.

It seemed to me that "Je n'ai qu'un livre" would be the former when I encountered it first.

Is there anything that would differentiate the two English sentences?

(No biggie, just wondering.)

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Nev !
That's an interesting question :)
Je n'ai qu'un livre would be the neutral equivalent to I only have a/one book when there's no emphasis on "one".
However, if you wanted to insist on the fact that you have "only one", in French you would use the adjective seul, as such:
Je n'ai qu'un seul livre.  (Literally: I only have one book alone.) 
Bonne journée !

Answer

Je n'en ai que un. I suggest that this would explain that "you only have one book" provided the context of what was being discussed mentioned books.
I agree that Je n'ai qu'un livre, translates to "I only have a book"
Hope this helps.
Alan (Jim)

Answer

Cheers. :)

Answer

the difference in English is ´I have only one book’ (not ten books) AND ´ I only have one book’ (all I own is one book...my only belonging...)