～た方(ほう)がいいIt'd be better to, Should do

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

• 

  mrnoone

  English translation:
  it’d be better to, should

  Structure
  Verb[ た ] + 方がいい

  Explanation:
  [Very strong suggestion/advice, with indirect implication of negative consequences if hearer doesn’t follow it(like becoming ill etc.)]

  View on Bunpro

• 

  Jul3

  I was wondering why this uses the た form of the verb as that is past tense. (Especially since the ない方がいい negative form uses the present tense not the past tense).

• 

  Schwammerl

  I found this counterintuitive too…

• 

  Aythreuk

  attahougaii.PNG782×211 17.6 KB

  T...

• 

  mrnoone

  Hey

  I decided to replace the sentence since it sounds a bit unnatural.

  The idea behind was to connect たことがある meaning that something has been done at some point in the past, and たほうがいい.

  Cheers!

• 

  Talos

  Almost a year later, but I had the same question.

  Here’s a discussion attempting to explain it.

  The summary I take from it is that this is a separate use of た (yep, apparently there are multiple), which isn’t the past tense grammatically but the perfect tense - something I think most of us aren’t terribly familiar with, unfortunately.

  Example translations from that link include:

  傘を持っていったほうがいい。
  Lit. “Having brought an umbrella would be better.”

  That then is contrasted with the meaning you get when you don’t use the perfect tense:

  It is also possible to have the plain form of verbs before 〜ほうがいい, but they don’t have a future interpretation but rather a “general” or “habitual” one.

  傘を持って...

• 

  Ambo100

  Regarding the grammar structure given:

  Perhaps it would be better to say:

  Past Tense Verb (Short Form) + 方・が・いい

  Although as @Talos has mentioned it is technically perfect tense, I think it might be a bit confusing for those who haven’t learnt about that yet.

  I just had a review where the answer was:

  ここに すんだほうがいい 。[住すむ]

  So the existing grammar structure would not take into account た > だ and various other exceptions.

  Another note from what I read in Genki is that

  when the advice is negative, however, the verb is in the present tense short form.

• 

  eclipse77x

  Can 〜方がいい (and 〜べき) be used in conjunction with と思う to discuss what is “better/best for yourself” or “what you yourself must do”? Is there another grammar structure that is more suited to this purpose?

  Example: I think it would be better (for me) to exercise more.
  もっと運動したほうがいいと思います。

  Is the only difference between 〜方がいい and 〜べき the nuance between “should” and “must”? Would the sentence「もっと運動するべきだと思います。」have a similar feel, something close to “I think I’ve got to exercise more.”?

• 

  crisp-y

  Many years later, here’s my ten cents. This is a classical case of Japanese saying suggestions in a roundabout way.

  The た form doesn’t indicate the past tense here in the usual sense, but rather a completed, desirable state (as others say, perfect tense). It’s as if saying, “It’s better if things were already in this state/done this way” (ほう afterall, means method/way). This creates a sense of completion or ideal outcome.

  E.g. レポートは手書きで書いたほうがいい
  = It’d be better to write the report by hand

  Lit: It’s better if the report is already in the state of having been handwritten

  The reason that it’s present tense in the negative (ない方がいい) is because we are not talking about a desired, completed action. Instead, we’re saying it’s better if this action does not happen at all. This makes sense because if an action never happens, it can’t b...