nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] よかった。
English:	It is good that..., I'm glad that...

A nice a simple grammar point today and one I think is part of the JLPT3 specification. I say that because my usual JLPT specification book doesn't list it, but I found a web site that suggests it is 3級. Nonetheless, I can see myself using this one a lot since I'm so 前向き！

Simply, by adding よかった to the ーて form of a verb, either positive or negative, we can say that it is good that, or you are happy that something has either occurred or is occurring.

English:	It was good to go to the theatre again.
Jenglish:	[theatre][again][go + good]
日本語：	劇場にまた行ってよかった。

English:	I'm glad I left the party early last night.
Jenglish:	[last night][party][early][left + glad]
日本語：	昨夜パーティーに出てよかった。

Here are some real-world examples!

Example 1:

This is taken from here.

日本語：	転職してよかった！は、メルマガ【転職ＨｏｗＴｏ便】にて配信中
Jenglish:	[to change occupation + good] [??] [email magazine] ['how to change occupation mail'] [in] [distribution]

Well, most of the words are easy enough, although the standalone use of は is a puzzle. My best guess is that it is an interjection of some kind - maybe like us saying 'well then...' in English. I've also made the assumption that 配信中 is the 'currently doing' form of 配信 - in this case meaning 'currently in distribution'. So, my translation is: It's good to change your career! Well, the electronic magazine 'How to change your career' is currently in distribution.

Example 2:

Here's one from a Wikipedia entry about some TV drama.

日本語：	愛しすぎなくてよかった
Jenglish:	[to love + too much + negative + good]

Well, I have to say I don't think this one is too difficult; it's simply a verb with a dozen conjugations stuck on it! My guess is It's good to not love too much.

Example 3:

A final example taken from here.

日本語：	「サイト（またはブログ等）を閉鎖してよかったと思いますか？」とサファリ問題
Jenglish:	"[site] [or] [blog] [[etc] [closing + good] [think?]" [and] [safari] [question]

OK, I had to cheat here a little. To be honest, it was straight-forward but the one bit that completely threw me was the とサファリ問題 bit. Because the first part was in 「」 followed by と I automatically assumed that I was looking at a quote. In the end I gave up on that and asked a friend. It appears that there were actually two separate statements here and the と was acting as and. So, with a little help I translate this as "Do you think it's good for the site (or blog etc) to close?" and safari questions.

またね・・・