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Chapter 1 of [Pretty Much Any] Japanese Textbook will teach you that いい (ii) means "good."
Then around Chapter 3 or 4, they'll tell you that the past tense is よかった (yokatta), meaning "was good:"
A: 映画はどうだった？
eiga wa dou datta?
How was the movie?
(Literally: "movie + は + how + was?")
B: よかった。
yokatta.
It was good.
(Literally: "was good.")
Well, they'd probably use ～でした (deshita) instead of ～だった (datta) and よかったです (yokatta desu) instead of just よかった (yokatta), because textbooks love stiff, polite Japanese.
Textbooks also treat people like idiots. (But that's a topic for another tirade.)
My point is: よかった is SO useful.
Here's why...
3 Ways Japanese People use よかった Every Single Day
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(I'll try to keep these short, sweet, and info-packed.)
#1 - Thank God!
You're having a friend's B-day party at your house, and your significant other is supposed to pick up the cake on his/her way home from work.
Your significant other was also wise enough to let his/her phone die, so you have no way of sending a reminder about picking up the cake!
The guests have started arriving.
You pray and pray and pray he/she won't forget the cake.
Then the door opens.
You ask:
A: ケーキ取ってきた？！
keeki totte kita?!
Did you get the cake?!
(Literally: "cake + take + come?")
(Note: The grammar form ～てくる could fill a whole lesson... and probably will some day.)
Since your significant other is not as stupid as you thought, apparently--is not a total detriment to humanity--he/she says:
B: うん。
un.
Yeah.
Now's your chance to say...
A: よかったー！
yokattaaaa!
Thank God! // Thank Heavens! // What a relief!
(Literally: "was good.")
This is Special Use #1.
Just say よかった (yokatta) and then drag out that last "ah" sound.
You'll probably see it written like よかった～ or よかったー.
I love one-word phrases.
#2 - Good thing I...
A lot of times in English, we use the phrase "Good thing I [verb-ed]" to express relief or gratitude that we did something.
I passed the test! (Good thing I studied!)
It's raining! (Good thing I bought an umbrella!)
You go to a party, and you see the most awesome, friendliest, giving person in the world who you only met one time but then lost his/her contact info! (Good thing I came to this party!)
In English, that's...
Good thing I + [past tense verb].
Good thing I studied!
Good thing I bought an umbrella!
Good thing I came to this party!
In Japanese, that's...
[Te-form of verb] + よかったー
Verbs:
to study = 勉強する (benkyou suru)
to buy = 買う (kau)
to come = 来る (kuru)
Te-forms:
する (suru) → して (shite)
買う (kau) → 買って (katte)
来る (kuru) → 来て (kite)
Good thing I...
勉強してよかったー
bennkyou shite yokattaaa
Good thing I studied. // I'm so glad I studied.
(Literally: "studied + was good.")
傘買ってよかったー
kasa katte yokattaaa
Good thing I bought an umbrella. // I'm so glad I bought an umbrella.
(Literally: "bought + was good.")
来てよかったー
kite yokattaaa
Good thing I came here. // I'm so glad I came.
(Literally: "come + was good.")
(Note: I left out "to the party" or anything like that, because in most situations, it wouldn't need to be included.)
Nuance Note: You don't actually have to draw out the end of your よかったー. You can just say よかった as you normally would, which lowers the amount of relief that you're expressing.
#3 - I wish I'd...
よかった is not only useful for expressing relief.
It's also my #1 word for expressing regret.
To express regret with よかった, you attach it to the Conditional ～ば (~ba) form of verbs.
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Conjugation Detour!
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If you're still a beginner, you probably don't know how to conjugate to the ～ば conditional form of verbs.
Here's a painfully truncated breakdown...
～ば Conditionals
(Note: "s.o." = "someone.")
Grade I Verbs
話す → 話せば
hanasu → hanaseba
to talk → if s.o. talks
飲む → 飲めば
nomu → nomeba
to drink → if s.o. drinks
Grade II Verbs
食べる → 食べれば
taberu → tabereba
to eat → if s.o. eats
寝る → 寝れば
neru → nereba
to sleep → if s.o. sleeps
Irregular Verbs
来る → 来れば
kuru → kureba
to come → if s.o. comes
する → すれば
suru → sureba
to do → if s.o. does
(So Many Notes: Japanese conditionals are pretty complicated, as there's a pretty wide variety of them. You'll get the hang of them over time.)
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End Detour!
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Like I was saying, if you snap よかった onto one of these ～ば words, you get:
I wish I'd [verb-ed].
勉強すればよかった。
benkyou sureba yokatta.
I wish I'd studied. // I should have studied.
傘買えばよかった。
kasa kaeba yokatta.
I wish I'd bought an umbrella. // I should have bought an umbrella.
行けばよかった。
ikeba yokatta.
I wish I'd gone (to the party). // I should have gone (to the party.)
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Conjugation Ninja Level-Up
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There's not really space to explain here, but you can also say, "I wish I hadn't [verb-ed]" by attaching よかった to the negative ～ば form.
So...
I wish I hadn't [verb-ed].
勉強しなければよかった。
benkyou shinakereba yokatta.
I wish I hadn't studied. // I shouldn't have studied.
傘買わなければよかった。
kasa kawanakereba yokatta.
I wish I hadn't bought an umbrella. // I shouldn't have bought an umbrella.
行かなければよかった。
ikanakereba yokatta.
I wish I hadn't gone (to the party). // I shouldn't have gone (to the party.)
That's some head-spinning verb conjugation!
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Exit Conjugation Abyss of Despair
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If you can master these verb conjugations, all you have to do is snap on よかった for super-native, super-high-level phrasing goodness.
First, you memorize the conjugation rules.
Second, you cry every time you forget them.
Third, you conjugate the verbs a million times.
Finally, you forget the conjugation rules and conjugate intuitively.
This final step exists--I promise you.
I went there once.
Then I came back to write this lesson.
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If you have any questions about this lesson, fellow students on the community page can help (signup link).
Good luck with your studies, everyone!
Keep swimming,
Niko
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p.s. Seriously, you should check out the community page. It's sweet.
(Here's the invite request form.)
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