ば良(よ)かったShould have, I wish, It would have been better to

Structure

Verb［ば］+ よかった

Examples:
食(た)べる￫食(た)べれば + よかった
飲(の)む￫飲(の)めば + よかった
する￫すれば + よかった

Details

About ばよかった

ばよかった is a common expression used when someone regrets that something has not been/was not done. It is a pairing of the conjunction particle ば, and the past form of the い-Adjective, 良(い)い (remembering that conjugations of いい use よ, and not い). This construction is often translated to 'I wish I did (A)', or 'I should have done (A)'.

ばよかった is used after verbs, so requires the standard ば conjugation, before adding よかった.

As ば highlights hypothetical situations, ばよかった literally means that 'it would have been good if (A)', where (A) is the thing that the speaker wishes had happened.

Fun Fact

This grammar point is in direct contrast to ばいい, the non-past version, which is used to express 'it would be good if (A)'.

運転(うんてん)をしたくなかったら、電車(でんしゃ)で行(い)けばいい。

If you don't want to drive, it would be better if you went by train.

Synonyms

Examples

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次(つぎ)の電車(でんしゃ)を待(ま)てば良(よ)かったです。

I should have waited for the next train.

ゲームより勉強(べんきょう)をすれば良(よ)かったです。

It would have been better to study rather than play games.

天気予報(てんきよほう)を見(み)れば良(よ)かったです。

I should have looked at the weather forecast.

スーパーに行(い)った時(とき)牛乳(ぎゅうにゅう)を買(か)えば良(よ)かった。

I should have bought milk while I was at the store.

寝(ね)ないで、日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)すれば良(よ)かった。

It would have been better to study Japanese rather than sleep.

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ばよかった – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (27 in total)

Asher
That is correct, the point would disappear from the review queue. Definitely good timing on N3!
Marcus.W
Very good, thanks.
quufer
I found this grammar point mostly by accident (did a search on “かった”), and noticed that it’s listed as N4 Lesson 11… which doesn’t exist. What is the purpose of this point, if it’s not included in the standard path? Are there a lot of orphan grammar points like this?