～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
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Standard

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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Online
- Breakdown of「てもいい」
  MaggieSensei
- Further breakdown「ても」
  JOSHU
- More Examples
  WikiBooks
- Noun + で(も）いい　VS + がいい
  Maggie Sensei
- Saying something is ok to do or not do
  Tae Kim

Offline
- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 471
- Marugoto Elementary 1 (A2) Rikai
  Page 72
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 145
- みんなの日本語 I
  Page 98 [CH 15]
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てもいい – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

Jake
[Nouns ・Adj.] ~ is okay
(even if) ~ is alright to
(even) ~ can・may
Structure
- いAdjective[く] + てもいい
- Noun + でもいい
- なAdjective + でもいい
View on Bunpro
max99x
Shinzo

“It is even fine …” sounds really weird. Shouldn’t it be rather “it’s fine, even if …”?
mrnoone
Hey and welcome to the community forums
@Shinzo

I have changed the translation to:

" It is fine if you like to do sports."

I think it sounds much better in English, what is your opinion?

Thank you for the feedback!
Cheers,
Shinzo
@mrnoone: Thank you and yes, I agree.
Daigo
高たかくてもいい。
What is the reason for changing the い for く in 高い ?
Isn’t it changed only to form negative sentences?
FredKore
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
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
よろしい is a more polite alternative to いい with more or less the same meaning.