てよかった | I'm Glad That ~

What is てよかった?

てよかった expresses relief or happiness about something that happened. "I'm glad I studied." "Thank goodness we made it in time." "I'm so relieved I brought an umbrella." It's that satisfying exhale when things worked out.

よかった is the past tense of いい/よい (good). So the literal meaning is something like "it was good that ~." Simple to build, immediately useful, and you'll hear it all the time.

Formation

Take the て-form of a verb and add よかった:

Polite: てよかったです. Past tense of the whole thing (talking about a past relief): てよかったと思(おも)った (I thought "I'm glad that...").

You can also use this with adjective and noun states. い-adjective: 安(やす)くてよかった (glad it was cheap). な-adjective: 元気(げんき)でよかった (glad you're well). But the verb version (て-form + よかった) is by far the most common.

Negative Version: なくてよかった

Sometimes you're glad something didn't happen. For that, use the negative te-form + よかった:

Verb [ない-form] → drop い → なくてよかった

• 行(い)かなくてよかった
  I'm glad I didn't go
• 言(い)わなくてよかった
  I'm glad I didn't say it
• 壊(こわ)れなくてよかった
  I'm glad it didn't break

This is just as common as the positive version. Relief that you dodged a bullet is a universal feeling.

てよかった vs よかった alone

You'll also hear よかった by itself, without a verb. That's just "great!" or "thank goodness!", a general exclamation of relief. てよかった is more specific: it says exactly what you're glad about.

• よかった！
  Thank goodness! (general)
• 間(ま)に合(あ)ってよかった！
  I'm glad we made it in time! (specific)

Common Patterns with てよかった

てよかった often shows up with certain sentence-enders that add nuance:

• てよかったな
  reflective, talking to yourself ("I'm glad I did that...")
• てよかったね
  shared feeling ("good thing you did, huh")
• てよかったと思(おも)う
  "I think it's good that ~" (slightly more measured)

You'll also see it combined with the past tense of other patterns. For instance, 行(い)ってよかったと思(おも)います means "I think it was good that I went." A polite, considered statement of relief.

Expressing Regret: ばよかった

A related pattern worth knowing: ば-form + よかった means "I wish I had done ~" (regret). Different grammar, opposite feeling. てよかった is relief; ばよかった is regret. If てしまう is "unfortunately did," then てよかった is "fortunately did."

• 勉強(べんきょう)してよかった
  I'm glad I studied
• 勉強(べんきょう)すればよかった
  I wish I had studied