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

  • 品詞

    表現

  • 単語の種類

    形容詞

  • 使用域

    一般

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 も, but is considered a bit more direct/casual in those cases. It is best to remove the も only when talking to people that you know well.

てもいい is an expression that literally means て (noun, etc) も (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 ですか, or the more casual の.

Examples

  • 高(たか)くてもいい。

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

  • 何(なん)でもいいです。

    Anything is fine.

  • 誰(だれ)でもいい。

    Anyone is fine.

  • 水曜日(すいようび)でもいいですか。

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

  • 冷(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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