Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 9: 4/13

~てもいい (Verb)It's okay to, It's alright to, Can/may

Structure

Verb[て]+ + いい

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Expression

  • Word Type

    Adjective

  • Register

    Standard

About Verb + てもいい

Verb + てもいい is a construction in Japanese used to express that something is 'okay', or 'alright'. It can also be used as a question to ask if you 'can', or 'may' do something.

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

This expression is simply a construction that literally means (verb) (also) いい (is good).

Caution

As this grammar point uses the form of verbs, it is important to remember that some verbs will use instead of .

Examples

--:--

    これ()てもいい

    Is it alright if I look at this?

    質問(しつもん)してもいい

    May I ask a question?

    (あつ)です(みず)()んでもいいです。[()む]

    It’s hot. Is it alright to drink some water?

      (あつ)です(みず)()んでもいいです

      It's hot. Is it alright to drink some water?

      あそこ(あそ)んでもいいです

      You may play over there.

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        Verb + てもいい – Grammar Discussion

        Most Recent Replies (21 in total)

        • Jake

          Jake

          [Verbs] is okay, is alright to, can・may

          Structure

          • Verb[]・も・いい

          む・ ぶ・ぬ → んで

          • → いで

          View on Bunpro

        • Pep95

          Pep95

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          Hey

          It has been fixed!

          Many thanks for notifying us and sorry for the inconvenience!

        • paberu

          paberu

          Instead of 朝ごはんをつくってもいいです I incorrectly used 朝ごはんをつくてもいいです.

          Does someone have a link to a page with that table of conversions to the te-form verbs?

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          Hey

          It actually is on bunpro:

          V(る1) → 見 → 見

          V(る5) → 座 →座 って

          V(う) → 歌 → 歌 って

          V(つ) → 打 → 打 って

          V(く) → 歩 → 歩 いて

          V(ぐ) → 泳 → 泳 いで

          V(ぬ) → 死 → 死 んで

          V(ぶ) → 飛 → 飛 んで

          V(む) → 休 → 休 んで

          V(す) → 話 → 話 して

          Irregular Verbs​:warning:

          する→して

          くる→きて<...

        • paberu

          paberu

          Exactly what I was looking for, tx!

        • CrisH

          CrisH

          In 質問を してもいい ? this is automatically a question, and the か marker is rejected. Is it the question mark that makes this a question?

          Cris

        • matt_in_mito

          matt_in_mito

          The sentence-ending particle か behaves as a question mark, so it should usually be one or the other. 「~ですか?」 looks unusual.
          In casual speech, I never use か, I just use an upward inflection (i.e. a question mark)

        • CrisH

          CrisH

          Thanks, Matt.

        • rainevi

          rainevi

          明日学校がにいってもいいです

          Should there not be some kind of particle between 明日 and 学校?


          Edit: Nevermind, found this:

          Note: Relative time expressions such as 今日 and 明日 do not take a particle.

        • Eloeri

          Eloeri

          Why does it state in the notes that: む・ ぶ → で, when む・ ぶ・ ぬ should become んで?

        • Pushindawood

          Pushindawood

          Nice spot! I have updated the notes section both here and on Bunpro. Cheers!

        • Eloeri

          Eloeri

          Thank you!

        • mirithil

          mirithil

          When I look at the alternate grammar I see this:

          もよろしい

          Which is not covered in the meaning section. Could you add some reference to it?

        • mrthuvi

          mrthuvi

          I came across this similar grammar:
          権利: ある物事をしてよい、またはしないでよいという資格。
          Is it simply a more formal/literal version of てもいい?

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          @mrthuvi
          Hey

          You are correct. よい is the original pronunciation of いい (you can think いい as informal, similar to English “I am” and “I’m” difference), so definitely, it feels more formal.

          I hope it helps,
          Cheers

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          @mrthuvi
          By the way, the も in てもいい construction has “inclusive” function, that is it includes both cases, even if you do something, or even if you don’t do something it is (still) OK. So it is more indirect, leaving the person choice whether they will do something or not. In other words, it is up to the speaker.

          When there is no も it is more direct, basically “one is allowed to”.
          There is no alternative to “not do something” included.

          Though, this is not always the case, for example in casual speech も can be omitted without any special thinking behind it.

        • shary

          shary

          I’ve heard that in this grammar point the “も” is not required. If true, It would be nice to indicate as such in the grammar description and to add a few exemple sentences without も. What do you think?

          Same for grammar point 46.

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          @shary
          Added the note about the も particle
          And もless answers are accepted as alternatives.

        • Unlocked

          Unlocked

          The first example is:
          これを見てもいい?
          Which it says means “is it alright if I look at this?”. However, because the subject isn’t stated, could it also mean “can you look at this?” (as in asking for feedback on something or showing something off), or would that be strange?

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