Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 7: 11/13

~てもいいIt is alright/fine/okay even if, Can/may, ~ is also okay

Structure

[い]Adjective[く]+ ても + いい
[な]Adjective + でも + いい
Noun + でも + いい

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Expression

  • Word Type

    Adjective

  • Register

    Standard

About てもいい

Noun, い-Adjective, or な-Adjective + てもいい is a construction in Japanese that is used to express that something is 'okay', or 'alright'. It is also frequently used as a question to ask if you 'can', or 'may' do something.

As can be seen, with い-Adjectives, we will need to use the conjugation form. This is created by removing the い and then replacing it with く.

This phrase is also regularly used without the , but is considered a bit more direct/casual in those cases. It is best to remove the only when talking to people that you know well.

てもいい is an expression that literally means (noun, etc) (also) いい (is good).

Similarly to the てもいい grammar point that is used with verbs, this variant may also be used as a question. To do this, you simply need to follow てもいい with です, or the more casual .

Examples

--:--

    (たか)くてもいい

    It is fine (even) if it's expensive.

    (なん)でもいいです

    Anything is fine.

    (だれ)でもいい

    Anyone is fine.

    水曜日(すいようび)でもいいです

    Is it fine (even) if it is (on) Wednesday?

    (つめ)たくてもいい

    It is fine (even) if it is chilled.

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てもいい – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

  • FredKore

    FredKore

    That’s the correct pattern.
    Here’s the positive and negative conjugations of い-adjectives.
    高い → 高くて
    高くない → 高くなくて
    Adjective[て]・Noun[て] | Japanese Grammar SRS
    なくて | Japanese Grammar SRS

  • Boulvejak

    Boulvejak

    What’s the “てもよろしい” form mentioned in the quiz answers? I assume it’s another form, but it’s not mentioned in the lesson info at all.

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    よろしい is a more polite alternative to いい with more or less the same meaning.

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