てよかった (te yokatta) Meaning Japanese Grammar - I'm Glad That...

The expression てよかった (te yokatta) can be translated in various ways depending on the sentence and context.

It can be explained as I’m glad that…, it’s a good thing that…, or fortunately…、luckily..., it's a relief that....

In this post, we will take a look at the components that make up てよかった, when てよかった is used, and some common everyday examples and phrases in Japanese.

てよかった to express gratitude, joy, sense of relief

てよかった is used for actions whose outcome and result are / were positive for the subject; performing the action expressed by the form in て brought benefits to the subject.

This sentence can imply that the weather has turned nice after days of rain for example.

The structure with てよかった therefore expresses feelings of relief, satisfaction and also gratitude for something that has happened or has not happened.

てよかった in the Affirmative Form

てよかった is formed by taking the て form of a verb and combining it with the adjective よい good, well in its past tense よかった, which means “was good” or “turned out well.”

The adjective よい can be written in kanji as 良(よ)い, but in this structure it is generally written in hiragana.

Ichidan Verb 決(き)める: decide

• 決(き)めてよかった: I'm glad I decided (it)

Godan Verb 聞(き)く: listen, ask

• 聞(き)いてよかった: I'm glad I asked or I'm glad I listened (depending on context)

The literal translation is: Top 10 sightseeing spots I’m glad I went to".. If we want to make the sentence polite, we simply add the copula です.

As we have seen in the cases above, the verbs expressed in て are in the affirmative form. The negative form of the verb is also used. Let's go and see how it works.

なくてよかった, the negative form

なくてよかった represents the same structure in the negative form according to the scheme:

Even when we use the negative form of the verb, we still emphasize the benefit obtained from not having performed the expressed action.

Ichidan Verb 決(き)める: decide

• 決(き)めなくてよかった: I'm glad I didn't decide or it was good that I didn’t decide

Godan Verb 聞(き)く: listen, ask

• 聞(き)かなくてよかった: I'm glad I didn't ask / listen or it was good that I didn’t ask / listen

てよかった expresses the concept of ラッキーだ! what luck!

てよかった with adjectives and nouns

The same structure てよかった is also used with い adjectives, な adjectives, and with nouns.

Examples:

• the い adjective loses the vowel い: 高(たか)い becomes 高(たか)くてよかった
• the な adjective loses the syllable な and joins the て form of the copula だ / です: 親(しん)切(せつ)な becomes 親(しん)切(せつ)でよかった
• the noun joins で as above: 医(い)者(しゃ) becomes 医(い)者(しゃ)でよかった

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Other examples of てよかった

The verb meet in Japanese is 会(あ)う; 出(で)会(あ)う is something more, it is a special meeting, with a particular meaning, an often unusual, unexpected meeting full of joy and surprise.