といいI hope, I wish, You should, It would be good

Structure

Verb + と + いい
［い］Adjective + と + いい
［な］Adjective + だ + と + いい
Noun + だ + と + いい

Wishing for others:
(Desired Outcome) Phrase + といい + ね

Wishing for oneself:
(Desired Outcome) Phrase + といい + なぁ
(Desired Outcome) Phrase + といい+んだ⁽¹⁾ + けど⁽²⁾

⁽¹⁾ のだ
⁽²⁾ けれど、けども、けれども、が

Details

About といい

One of the regular uses of the と particle is to express 'if'. However, unlike some other structures (like なら, たら, and ば), と implies that the 'if' result of と is something that will definitely happen, or is a natural consequence of (A) happening. When combined with the い-Adjective いい, it means 'if (A), it would be good'.

This construction may be used with any phrase ending in a word in its standard form.

Because と expresses a 'certain' outcome, the 'good' in this grammar construction often sounds quite strong, leading to といい regularly being translated closer to 'I hope (A)', or 'I wish (A)'.

There are several situations in which this grammar point can be used to express that you are hoping something for yourself, or hoping something for someone else. This is primarily determined by the use of な, or んだけど (hoping for yourself), or ね (hoping for others/mutual benefit).

Caution

When this expression finishes with けど, けれども, or が, it can imply that there are some external factors that will make the desired result difficult to achieve.

Examples

--:--

試合(しあい)で勝(か)つといいですね。

I hope that you can win the game.

あなたはもっと果物(くだもの)を食(た)べるといいです。

You should eat more fruit.

楽(たの)しいといいんですが。

I hope it is fun.

あの選手(せんしゅ)が世界(せかい)一(いち)になるといい。

I hope that athlete becomes the world's best.

これからもどんどん強(つよ)くなるといいね。

I hope that you can rapidly get stronger (from now).

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- ～といい ,I hope, I wish..
  E-Japanese
- ～といい construction and example sentences
  Renshuu

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- Genki II 1st Edition
  Page 77
- Genki II 2nd Edition
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といい – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (13 in total)

Pushindawood
I hope
I wish
you should
Structure
- Wishing for others/inside group :
  Desired Outcome + といい + です + ね
  Desired Outcome + といい + ね
- Wishing for oneself :
  Desired Outcome + といい + なぁ
  Desired Outcome + といい + ん/の + です + が
  Desired Outcome + といい + ん/の + だ + けど
If といい means “to hope” the verb has to be non-controllable , or controllable but in potential form .

Controllable verb:
帰るといい - You should go back home
帰れるといいね - I hope you can come home.

Non-controllable verb:
雨が降らないといいね - I hope it won’t rain.
[Cannot be used to give advice]
xBl4ck
Pushindawood
@xBl4ck Nice spot! We recently got the Japanese for this sentence updated and forgot to fix the translation. Cheers!
deltacat3

楽しいといいんですが。
I hope it is fun.

Whats が doing at the end of this sentence?
matt_in_mito
The が at the end of the sentence implies that the speaker gets the feeling that it might not be fun.
deltacat3
Ahhhh! I see how that’s working. The implied omission insinuates the speakers reluctance, hesitance, etc… Thank you! @matt_in_mito
matt_in_mito
Japanese is a very high-context language and you have to read between the lines all the time. This is a prime example of that.
Johnathan-Weir
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shary
I don’t know if this has been reported before, but isn’t this point (といい) a duplicate of the grammar point https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/212 (covers both といい and たらいい) ?

If not, what’s the difference?
Howl_UK
There is a Japanese Ammo video for this grammar point. I’m adding these links to each grammar discussion as I find them so let me know if this is annoying!
testing
What is なぁ? Is that a small あ on purpose?
matt_in_mito
You will often see a small ぁ at the end of a sentence like どうしようかなぁ - it gives the impression that the speaker is trailing off into thought.
natiiix
I believe these small vowels at the end of a sentence are similar to using ～ or ー at the end of a sentence instead of a full stop. The sentence ends with a prolonged pronunciation of the last word, indicating an ongoing thought process or empathy of the writer/speaker.

It’s kind of like phonetic spelling in English, where you intentionally mangle words to convey certain additional emotion in your writing.
MikkaT
Hi, what does this part mean? it is not clickable and it is the only example which uses a な in both parts of the sentence.

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