| Do you remember how the character said, |
| You may get in the pool. |
| プールに 入っても いいですよ｡ (Pūru ni haitte mo ii desu yo.) |
| プールに 入っても いいですよ｡ (Pūru ni haitte mo ii desu yo.) |
| This sentence follows the pattern here. |
| Let's look at how this pattern is constructed. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| V-て form + もいい / いいです (V-te form + mo ii / ii desu) |
| You may [verb]. |
| It’s okay if you [verb]. |
| This pattern is used to express permission. When you want to say that someone is allowed to do something, take the verb in its て-form and add もいいです. This structure means that it’s okay to do the action or that the action is permitted. If you want to make it sound a little more friendly or reassuring, you can add よ at the end of the sentence. |
| Let’s see how the line from the dialogue uses this pattern. |
| プールに 入っても いいですよ｡ (Pūru ni haitte mo ii desu yo.) |
| You may get in the pool. |
| In this sentence: |
| プール means "pool." |
| に is the direction particle, which shows the destination of the action — in this case, the pool. |
| The verb is 入る (hairu), which means "to enter" or "to get in." To form the て-form, it becomes 入って. Then we add も to create 入っても, meaning "even if you enter" or more naturally here, "you may enter." |
| いいですよ adds the meaning of "it's okay" in a friendly way. The よ at the end adds emphasis or reassurance. |
| So, プールに 入っても いいですよ。 means "You may get in the pool." |
| There are two additional patterns that can be useful when talking about permission. |
| First is |
| V-informal negative without い + くてもいい / いいです (V-nai form without i + kute mo ii / kute mo ii desu) |
| This means "You don’t have to [verb]" or "It’s okay if you don’t [verb]." This is the negative form of the first pattern we discussed. |
| The second pattern is |
| V-て form + はいけない / いけません (V-te form + wa ikenai / ikemasen) |
| "You must not [verb]." or "It’s not allowed to [verb]." This is what you use when someone asks if something is OK to do, and the answer is no. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| しゃしんを とっても いいですか。 (Shashin o totte mo ii desu ka.) |
| May I take a picture? |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Let’s break it down: |
| Here, しゃしん means "picture." It’s the object of the action and is marked by the particle を, which indicates what the verb is being done to. So, しゃしんを tells us that the action (taking) is being done to a picture. |
| Now for the verb: the base form is とります, which means "to take (a picture)." To fit the pattern V-て form + もいい, we first convert とります to its て-form: とって. |
| Then we add もいいですか — this is the polite question form of もいいです, meaning "is it okay if I...?" or "may I...?" |
| So we get: |
| とって + もいいですか equals とっても いいですか |
| This whole verb expression とっても いいですか is what asks for permission — "May I take...?" |
| So altogether: |
| しゃしんを is the object, and |
| とっても いいですか is the verb phrase that follows the pattern V-て form plus もいい / いいです. |
| Here's another example |
| あとで はらっても いいですか。 (Ato de haratte mo ii desu ka.) |
| Is it okay if I pay later? |
| あとで はらっても いいですか。 (Ato de haratte mo ii desu ka.) |
| Is it okay if I pay later? |
| Let's try one more, |
| もう かえっても いいよ。 (Mō kaette mo ii yo.) |
| You may go home now. |
| もう かえっても いいよ。 (Mō kaette mo ii yo.) |
| You may go home now. |
| Another one. |
| きょうは かえらなくても いいです。 (Kyō wa kaeranakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to go home today. |
| きょうは かえらなくても いいです。 (Kyō wa kaeranakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to go home today. |
| Another example. |
| みんなを またなくても いいです。 (Minna o matanakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to wait for everyone. |
| みんなを またなくても いいです。 (Minna o matanakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to wait for everyone. |
| Next. |
| はやく よまなくても いいです。 (Hayaku yomanakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to read quickly. |
| はやく よまなくても いいです。 (Hayaku yomanakute mo ii desu.) |
| You don’t have to read quickly. |
| One more example. |
| 毎日 はしらなくても いいよ。 (Mainichi hashiranakute mo ii yo.) |
| You don’t have to run every day. |
| 毎日 はしらなくても いいよ。 (Mainichi hashiranakute mo ii yo.) |
| You don’t have to run every day. |
| Another example. |
| ここで およいでは いけません。 (Koko de oyoide wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not swim here. |
| ここで およいでは いけません。 (Koko de oyoide wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not swim here. |
| Let's look at another. |
| これを 食べては いけません。 (Kore o tabete wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not eat this. |
| これを 食べては いけません。 (Kore o tabete wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not eat this. |
| Another one. |
| 一日中 あそんでは いけません。 (Ichi-nichi-jū asonde wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not play all day. |
| 一日中 あそんでは いけません。 (Ichi-nichi-jū asonde wa ikemasen.) |
| You must not play all day. |
| One final example. |
| 一人で 行っては いけない。 (Hitori de itte wa ikenai.) |
| You must not go alone. |
| 一人で 行っては いけない。 (Hitori de itte wa ikenai.) |
| You must not go alone. |
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