I have not been in this Reddit before, so I hope it’s okay to ask this type of questions.
問題はそれだけだと思うかい -> You think that’s all there is to this problem?
This comes from [here](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%e3%81%a0%e3%81%91-dake-meaning/).
This is part of the JLPT-Sensei examples, and I have been stumped trying to understand what does だと mean here.
Can anyone help with this?
2 comments
The だ and と are not one particle
と marks the embedded sentence 「問題はそれだけだ」which is thought (思う)
The だ is the copular verb for the embedded sentence and is required to proceed と in this case. An embedded sentence must be terminated by a verb (as standard complete sentence), and だ serves that purpose
問題はそれだけだ, “that is the only problem”
問題はそれだけだと思うかい, “do you think that is the only problem?”
As u/Accomplished_Ad2527 has pointed out, だ and と each have their own functions here.
と after sentences is often used for quoting, wishing or – like in the example you gave – thinking. Examples you may already be familiar with –
猫だと思う。I think (that) it’s a cat.
あると願う。I hope (that) it’s there.
So it can be translated as (that), which the English language allows to be dropped in all of the above sentences. :p This kind of construction requires る over ます, so だ and not です would be used accordingly.