といい details
write + I hope
kaku to ii
I hope; it'd be good to — a wish about how things turn out, or a light suggestion
meaning: I hope you write
風邪、早く治るといいね。
kaze, hayaku naoru to ii ne.
That cold of yours — I hope you get better soon. casual
この薬、寝る前に飲むといいよ。
kono kusuri, neru mae ni nomu to ii yo.
You'd do well to take this medicine before bed. casual
- dictionary form
- i-adjective
- na-adjective
- noun
- formal
- colloquial
- polite
Examples
I hope — a wish about an outcome the speaker does not control, normally closing on ね
風邪、早く治るといいね。
kaze, hayaku naorutoii ne.
That cold of yours — I hope you get better soon. casual
新しい職場に慣れるといいですね。
atarashii shokuba ni narerutoiidesu ne.
I hope you get used to your new workplace. neutral
明日、いい天気だといいなあ。
ashita, ii tenki da to ii naa.
I hope the weather's good tomorrow. casual
皆様に喜んでいただけるといいのですが。
minasama ni yorokonde itadakeru to ii no desu ga.
I do hope everyone will be pleased. formal
it'd be good to do — a light suggestion, closing on よ rather than ね
この薬、寝る前に飲むといいよ。
kono kusuri, neru mae ni nomu to ii yo.
You'd do well to take this medicine before bed. casual
空いている時間帯に行くといいですよ。
suite iru jikantai ni iku to ii desu yo.
It'd be good to go at a time of day when it isn't busy. neutral
Formation
{V}といいattaches to dictionary form{I}といいattaches to i-adjective{NA-stem}だといいattaches to na-adjective{N}だといいattaches to noun
Variant notes
- といいのですが — the hedged wish of business speech and letters, trailing off instead of closing — 雨が上がるといいのですが。
- といいんだけど — the same hedge in everyday speech, and it often carries a worry the speaker leaves unsaid — 間に合うといいんだけど。
Notes
○受かっているといいね, ×受かったといいね. A wish about what did not
happen goes to たらよかった instead.
Related patterns
Similar
Both voice wishes over things nobody controls, but といい is the unmarked one and the one that survives into writing and the formal hedge といいのですが, while たらいい stays colloquial and leans on the speaker's own longing; only たら keeps a counterfactual past partner in たらよかった, which と has no shape for.
ばいい frames its clause as the condition that would settle the matter — 台風が来なければいいね wishes on the understanding that nothing else is wrong — where といい wishes for the outcome flat, with no "that alone would do" left in it.
Lookalikes
The と here is not the automatic-consequence と of 押すと開く — 晴れるといいね names no trigger and needs no consequent clause, since いい already closes the sentence and only particles like ね or なあ come after it.