てよかった — Glad That / Good Thing I Did
Expresses relief or gladness, looking back, that an action was done. 'I'm glad I did X / It was good that X happened.'
Structure
[Verb te-form] + よかった
Examples
傘を持ってきてよかった！雨が降った。
Kasa o motte kite yokatta! Ame ga futta.
Good thing I brought an umbrella! It rained.
持ってきて + よかった = glad I brought it
日本語を勉強してよかったと思う。
Nihongo o benkyou shite yokatta to omou.
I think it was a good thing that I studied Japanese.
勉強して + よかった = glad I studied
予約しておいてよかった。店は人でいっぱいだった。
Yoyaku shite oite yokatta. Mise wa hito de ippai datta.
Good thing I made a reservation. The restaurant was packed.
予約しておいて + よかった = glad I had booked ahead
• Negative: なくてよかった = good thing I DIDN'T do X (行かなくてよかった = good thing I didn't go). • Contrast with ばよかった, which expresses regret about something NOT done (行けばよかった = I wish I had gone).
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones てよかった is tested against.
vs ばよかった
てよかった = relief/gladness that you DID something (行ってよかった). ばよかった = regret that you did NOT do something you wish you had (行けばよかった).
More expressions
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