- There are two common French equivalents for the restrictive "only" in English: seulement and ne... que. These two terms mean essentially the same thing, but seulement is an adverb of quantity while ne... que is a negative adverb, so they're used a bit differently.
The simplest way to say "only" in French is with the adverb seulement, which can qualify a noun, verb, or clause
J'ai seulement un livre.
I have only one book.
Il voit seulement les films étrangers.
He sees only foreign movies.
J'ai lu seulement deux pages pour te faire plaisir.
I read only two pages to please you
J'ai lu deux pages seulement pour te faire plaisir.
I read two pages only to please you
Il veut travailler seulement à la banque
He wants to work only at the bank.
to say "only" is with ne... que, which is used similarly to other negative adverbs: ne goes in front of the verb and que usually follows it.
Je n'ai qu'un livre.
I have only one book.
Il ne voit que les films étrangers
He sees only foreign movies.
As with seulement, you can change the meaning by placing que directly in front of the word you want to qualify
Je n'ai lu que deux pages pour te faire plaisir.
I read only two pages to please you
Je n'ai lu deux pages que pour te faire plaisir.
I read two pages only to please you.
http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/only.htm
