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I was recently told by a native speaker that both of these sentences are correct:
ちょっとしか時間がないから行けない
ちょっとの時間しかないから行けない。
Does where the しか attach not matter in this case? I feel like the meaning of both sentences are essentially the same. Perhaps, its like the difference between the English sentences "I only have a little time" and "I have a little time only"?
It doesn’t change the meaning, but the first sentence sounds much more natural. The problem with the second sentence is not so much the position of しか as the noun phrase ちょっとの時間. It seems to me like a clumsy translation of “(a) little time”.
It sounds much less unnatural when used with で as in the following example, though.
ちょっとの時間で済ませる。
