Regret About the Past
ばよかった says you wish you had done something. The chance has gone.
- もっと早く出ればよかった。(I should have left earlier.)
It is always counterfactual — the thing did not happen, and the speaker minds.
The Negative Regret
For something you did and wish you hadn't, negate the verb:
- 言わなければよかった。(I wish I hadn't said it.)
Both directions are equally common, and the pattern is the same: whatever you regret, put the opposite into the ば form.
Against べきだった
| Pattern | Feel |
|---|---|
| ばよかった | personal regret — I wish I had |
| べきだった | moral judgement — it was the right thing to do |
謝ればよかった is "I wish I'd apologised". 謝るべきだった is "I ought to have apologised" — and directed at someone else it becomes a criticism.
Against たらよかった
Interchangeable in most sentences. たらよかった leans slightly toward a specific missed occasion, ばよかった toward a general regret.
With のに
Adding のに sharpens the regret into a complaint at oneself: 言ってくれればよかったのに (you could have told me).