Thursday, February 28, 2019

-suru ga ii ~するがいい

In Japanese, suru ga ii するがいい, or any verb plus ga ii, means literally "it's better to do [something]."

In anime, however, it's pretty much always used by evil-looking characters who're full of themselves to pretentiously tell someone "do this, I allow you to do," a permission, or "it's better you do so," which sounds like an order.

In either case, ga ii is often not translated to English at all.

アハハハっ 私は地獄の支配者になるもの 胡桃沢=サタニキア=マクドウェル この世の悪しきことは私のためにあるっ!! 人間ども!! 私におののき恐怖するがいい!! quote from manga Gabriel DropOut ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 3)
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, Gavuriiru Doroppuauto ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 3)

ii koto いいこと

In Japanese, ii koto いいこと means literally a "good thing," but it's also used, in female speech, as an interjection to call somebody's attention before telling them something.

It's also spelled ii koto いい事, 良いこと, 良い事, 好いこと, or 好い事. A variant is yoi koto よいこと, よい事.

いいこと? 戦うためには力が要るのよ でもドール単体では器にすぎない
Manga: Rozen Maiden, ローゼンメイデン (Chapter 9)
Wednesday, February 27, 2019

naka ga ii 仲がいい

In Japanese, naka ga ii 仲がいい means somebody is in good terms with somebody else, that they're friends, colleagues, that they have a "good relationship." Literally, it's the word naka 仲, "relationship," plus the i-adjective ii いい, "good," so it means "relationship is good."

It's also spelled naka ga ii 仲がいい. A synonymous variant is naka ga yoi 仲がよい. The homonym naka ga ii 中がいい means "inside is good" instead.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019

un ga ii 運がいい

In Japanese, un ga ii 運がいい means someone is "lucky," that they have "good luck." Literally, un 運 means "luck" and the i-adjective ii いい means "good," but the phrase grammatically means "luck is good" rather than "good luck."

It's also spelled un ga ii 運が良い. A synonymous variant is un ga yoi 運がよい.

atama ga ii 頭がいい

In Japanese, atama ga ii 頭がいい means someone is "smart," "intelligent," has "good brains." It's a phrase containing atama 頭, "head," the body part, and the i-adjective ii いい, "good." So it literally means "head is good."

It's also spelled atama ga ii 頭が良い. A synonymous variant is atama ga yoi 頭がよい.

頭いい!!お姉ちゃん天才!?ふふ・・・・・・まぁね
Manga: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen かぐや様は告らせたい~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~ (Chapter 9, かぐや様は歩きたい)
Monday, February 25, 2019

ii-kagen いい加減

In Japanese, ii-kagen いい加減 means literally that something is at a "good degree." However, most of the time, in anime, you'll see it as ii kagen ni shiro いい加減にしろ and phrases alike, which mean "STOP DOING THAT >:(", "CUT IT OUT!!!", "GIVE IT A REST" and so on.

いい加減にしやがれこの野郎!!!
Manga: Zatch Bell!, Konjiki no Gash!! 金色のガッシュ!! (Chapter 5, 道具か人間か!?)
Saturday, February 23, 2019

kakko-tsukete カッコつけて

In Japanese, kakko-tsukete カッコつけて means "to show off," to try to look "cool," kakkoii カッコいい. It's specially used when someone does something in front of someone else in order to impress them. And it's often used to critique someone for trying to look cool but looking lame instead because they're trying too hard.
Friday, February 22, 2019

kakkoii かっこいい - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, kakkoii かっこいい means "good-looking." It's generally used toward things and people who "look good," in various ways, such as looking "cool," "impressive," "stylish," "fashionable," "admirable," and so on.

Variants of the word include: kakkoii カッコイイ, kakko-ii カッコいい, かっこ良い, kakko-yoi かっこよい, kakkou-ii 格好いい, 格好良い, kakkou-yoi 格好よい, and kakkee かっけえ, かっけぇ, かっけー.

kakkowarui かっこ悪い - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, kakkowarui かっこ悪い means "lame." It's used when someone, something they wear, or something they do, is "uncool," or "un-stylish," "or un-fashioable", or leaves a bad impression in general. Variants include kakko-warui カッコ悪い, kakko-warii かっこワリぃ, and kakkou-warui 格好悪い.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

kakkou 格好

In Japanese, kakkou 格好 means the "appearance" of something, in the sense of "how it looks" to you or to other people. In anime, it's often used to talk about how someone is dressed, specially if it's a weird outfit.

The word kakkou can also mean the "state," "situation" something is in when qualified by an adjective, and it can mean "suitable" when turned into an adjective. Sometimes, the long vowel is shortened and it becomes kakko カッコ.

う・・・ 私はなんでこんな格好を・・・ ズキィ !!
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 20)
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

kimoi キモイ

In Japanese, kimoi キモイ, also spelled kimoi キモい, means "unpleasant," or "gross," or "disgusting," or "creepy," or "cringey," or "disturbing," etc. It's a slang, an abbreviation of kimochi warui 気持ち悪い. Basically everything that kimochi warui means kimoi means too, so just check that article instead.

なに? 話せって言っておいてなんだけど ごめん キモイ!! じゃあ話すのやめる? いや聞くけどっ
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 12)

kimochi warui 気持ち悪い

In Japanese, kimochi warui 気持ち悪い, means literally "of bad feeling," or "unpleasant." It's an expression used when something "feels bad," like when it's gross, creepy, disgusting, cringey, or simply when you don't feel well about it. Grammatically, it's an i-adjective.

Sometimes, kimochi warui is abbreviated to kimoi キモい.

And for the love of all that's holy do not search for 気持ち悪い on Google images. You don't want to do it. Trust me.

うぇぇ・・・臭い・・・気持ち悪いよぉ・・・
Manga: Goblin Slayer, ゴブリンスレイヤー (Chapter 6)

kimochi ii 気持ちいい

In Japanese, kimochi ii 気持ちいい means literally "of good feeling," or less literally "pleasant." It's an expression used when something "feels good," like rain, for example, but grammatically it's classified as an i-adjective.

The word is also spelled kimochi ii 気持ち良い, and kimichi-yoi 気持ちよい is a synonymous variant.

Example of kimochi ii.
Manga: Kids on the Slope, Sakamichi no Apollon 坂道のアポロン (Chapter 2)

良さ, Yosa - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, yosa 良さ, also spelled yosa よさ, means "good-ness" or "how good it is." It's the sa-form, "-ness form," of the i-adjective yoi 良い, "good," and the de facto sa-form of its more common synonym, ii いい.

Don't mistake yosa 良さ with yosasou 良さそう, which means "it seems it's good," or with the expression yossha! よっしゃ!, "alright!"
Sunday, February 17, 2019

ii ko いい子

In Japanese, ii ko いい子, also spelled ii ko 良い子, means "good child," or "good kid." It can also be used toward adults, animals, etc. depending on context to say they're a "good," ii いい, person, animal, etc. See ko for details.

The phrase yoi ko よい is a synonymous variant.

あ・・・ありがとうございました!! せんせーさようなら さようなら おとなしいからちょっとだけ心配だったけど りんちゃんとってもいい子にしてましたよ!!
Manga: Usagi Drop, うさぎドロップ (Chapter 2)
Friday, February 15, 2019

yoshi-yoshi よしよし - Meaning in Japanese, Examples

In Japanese, yoshi yoshi よしよし means "there, there," in the "it's alright, shh" sense used to comfort children, and sometimes to calm down crying children, etc.

Literally, yoshiyoshi means "alright, alright." It's the word yoshi よし, "alright," twice.

元気・・・・・・出して下さいね? よしよし よかったねーあっくん なでなで ・・・優しさがつらい・・・
Manga: Aho Girl, Aho Gāru アホガール (Volume 1, Chapter 3, Page 26)
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

yokereba よければ

In Japanese, yokereba よければ, also spelled yokereba 良ければ, means "if you'd like to," or "if you want to."
  • yokereba yonde kudasai
    よければ読んでください
    If you'd like, please read [it].
    • Please read if you'd like.

It's basically synonymous with yokattara よかったら, the only difference being that yokereba is more polite.[「よければ」と「よかったら」の違いについて - detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp, 2019-02-13]

Grammatically, yokereba is the ba-form of yoi よい.

yokattara よかったら

In Japanese, yokattara よかったら, also spelled yokattara 良かったら, means "if that's alright with you," or "if you'd like," "if you feel like it," "if you want, "etc. It's generally used when you offer or propose something to someone, to ask whether they're okay with it.

Grammatically, yokattara よかったら is the tara-form of yoi よい, and of ii いい, so it's literally "if good."

An example of よかったら in Japanese used the manga Gabriel DropOut.
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, Gavuriiru Doroppuauto ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 27)
Monday, February 11, 2019

yokumo よくも

In Japanese, yokumo よくも means "HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!" most of the time. Technically, it's just the adverb yoku よく intensified by mo も, and as such it can be used when good things happen, too, but it's mostly used when bad things happens, specially in anime.

The word can also be spelled yokumo 善くも, although that's unusual.

An example of yokumo used in Japanese.
Manga: Historie, ヒストリエ (chapter 20)
Saturday, February 9, 2019

yoku よく

In Japanese, yoku , also spelled yoku 良く, means literally that you've done "good" or have done "well," but it can also mean something happens "often" or "a lot," and it can also mean something is "impressive" to have done, often given unfavorable circumstances, or, also, because of the nerve you had to have to dare do it.

The word yoku よく is the adverbial form of ii いい, or rather, of yoi 良い. Note that yokunai よくない means "not good" instead, because to inflect the negative form of i-adjectives you add the auxiliary nai ない to the adverbial form. And yokute よくて is the te-form of the i-adjective.

それ よく言われたよ quote from manga Made in Abyss (chapter 14)
Manga: Made in Abyss (chapter 14)
Monday, February 4, 2019

yokunai よくない

In Japanese, yokunai よくない, "not good," also spelled yokunai 良くない, is the negative form of ii いい, "good."

Fortunately, there isn't much special about it. It's just the negative of ii いい.

The word yokunakatta よくなかった would be "was not good," past negative. Technically, both yokunai and yokunakatta are inflections of the i-adjective yoi よい, not of ii いい, but ii is never inflected, ii and yoi are synonymous, and ii is more common, so they're de facto inflections of ii.

じゃあ二藤くん拭いてくれる? いいんですか よくない!!!!
Manga: Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii ヲタクに恋は難しい (Chapter 5)

warukunai 悪くない

In Japanese, warukunai 悪くない means literally "not bad," the negative form of warui 悪い, "bad." The word warukunai can also mean "it's not my fault" or "it's not his fault," since warui can be used to say something is something's fault. For the same reason, warukunai can also mean there's nothing "wrong" with something.

The word warukunakatta 悪くなかった, "was not bad," past negative form, would also work similarly but in the past.

・・・・・・・・・ヒナ悪くないもん
Manga: Rozen Maiden, ローゼンメイデン (Chapter 14)
Saturday, February 2, 2019

yokatta よかった

In Japanese, yokatta よかった means "was good," "I'm glad," "that's a relief," "thank goodness," and "it would have been better [if...]," depending on context.

It's the past form of ii いい. Its antonym is warukatta 悪かった.

ザァァァァ こんなことならコンビニで傘買えばよかった
Manga: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! 私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い! (Chapter 5, モテないし宿る)