… 而已 (that's all / nothing more)

Just a joke, nothing bigger

• … that's all而已ér yǐ = "that's all / nothing more", often with merely只是zhǐ shì / but不过bú guò.
• I / me我wǒmerely只是zhǐ shìto play a joke开玩笑kāi wán xiàothat's all而已ér yǐ = "I was only joking, that's all."
• that's all而已ér yǐ plays the whole thing down.

Subj + (merely只是zhǐ shì) + … + that's all而已ér yǐ

• that's all而已ér yǐ caps the statement as "no big deal".

I我wǒonly只是zhǐ shìjoke开玩笑kāi wán xiàothat's all而已ér yǐ。

• merely只是zhǐ shìto play a joke开玩笑kāi wán xiàothat's all而已ér yǐ = "(I) was only joking, that's all."

Recap

Read the full reference: HSK 5 grammar — Sentence patterns.