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
- 電車でもいい。I am fine even if it is by train. (It does not need to be by car)
- お茶冷たくてもいい?Is it okay even if the tea is cold? (Would you prefer I heat it?)
- 肉が好きでもいい。It is okay even if you like meat. (I won't force you to eat something vegetarian)
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.
- 焼きそばでもいいですか?Is it okay even if it is yakisoba?
- これ食べてもいいの?Is it okay if we eat this? (Is this one that is okay to eat?)
Synonyms
Examples
高くてもいい。
It is fine (even) if it's expensive.
何でもいいです。
Anything is fine.
誰でもいい。
Anyone is fine.
水曜日でもいいですか。
Is it fine (even) if it is (on) Wednesday?
冷たくてもいい。
It is fine (even) if it is chilled.
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WikiBooks
Breakdown of「てもいい」
MaggieSensei
Noun + で(も)いい VS + がいい
Maggie Sensei
Offline
Marugoto Elementary 1 (A2) Rikai
Page 72
みんなの日本語 I
Page 98 [CH 15]
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 471
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 145
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てもいい – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (6 in total)
Shinzo
About 3 years ago
@mrnoone: Thank you and yes, I agree.
Daigo
About 2 years ago
高くてもいい。
What is the reason for changing the い for く in 高い ?
Isn’t it changed only to form negative sentences?FredKore
About 2 years ago
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
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