今日はいい一日だった
kyō wa ii ichinichi datta
In Japanese, "my day was good" is expressed as 今日はいい一日だった (kyō wa ii ichinichi datta).
This phrase is used to describe that the speaker had a positive experience during the day.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase breaks down into the following parts: 今日 (kyō) means "today", いい (ii) means "good" and 一日 (ichinichi) literally means "one day" or "a day". The term だった (datta) is the informal past tense of the copula (to be), meaning "was".
Which one should you use?
While the default form is 今日はいい一日だった, you can change the level of politeness or the intensity of the meaning.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word だった (datta) functions as the informal past tense of the copula to indicate that the state of the day occurred in the past.
How do you pronounce it?
kyō wa ii ichinichi datta
Did you know?
- Japanese has a specific concept called 一期一会 (ichigo ichie), which describes a 'once-in-a-lifetime encounter'. This is often used when a day was good specifically because of a unique meeting.
- The word いい (ii) is an irregular adjective. While most adjectives follow a strict pattern, いい must change to よかった (yokatta) if you want to say 'it was good' without using the copula だった.
- If you want to express a 'good day' as a wish for someone else's future, you would use いい一日を (ii ichinichi o). The sentence ends abruptly because the verb 'have' is implied.
Examples in context
- 今日は最高だったね！Today was awesome, wasn't it?
- 今日はいい一日だった。Kyō wa ii ichinichi datta.My day was good.
- 特に何もなかったけど、今日はいい一日だった。Tokuni nani mo nakatta kedo, kyō wa ii ichinichi datta.Nothing special happened, but my day was good.
Example conversation
Kenta and Himari are talking at home in the evening.
- 陽葵 Himari健太、今日はどうだった？Kenta, kyou wa dou datta?Kenta, how was your day?
- 健太 Kentaうん、今日はいい一日だったよ。Un, kyou wa ii ichinichi datta yo.Yeah, my day was good.
- 陽葵 Himariそれはよかったね。Sore wa yokatta ne.That's good to hear.
- 健太 Kenta明日もいい日になるといいな。Ashita mo ii hi ni naru to ii na.I hope tomorrow is a good day too.
