いい
ii[iː]
いい (ii) is the Japanese word for nice.
いい is used to describe things that are attractive, friendly. While いい can mean 'nice' in terms of personality, it is more frequently used to describe quality, weather or suitability than physical attractiveness.
Meaning: attractive, friendly (adj)
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective いい is irregular when changing forms. To use it as an adverb meaning 'well' or 'nicely', use よく. When expressing the past tense 'was good' or 'was nice', use よかった rather than using the ii stem.
How do you pronounce it?
ii
Did you know?
- The word いい can be used as a polite way to say 'no' or 'I am fine'. Instead of saying 'no', you can say いいです to imply that a situation is already sufficient and no further action is needed.
- When someone says いいですね ('that is nice'), they aren't always complimenting you. It is frequently used as a conversational filler to show they are listening, similar to saying 'I see' or 'Right' in English.
- While いい is the common spoken form, you will often see it written as よい in formal texts or dictionaries. These two versions are essentially the same word, but いい cannot be conjugated in its raw form.
Examples in context
- いい人です。He is nice.This sentence is useful for describing someone as a nice person using いい.Tatoeba #229344 by bunbuku, translation #66702 by CK
- 天気はいい？Is the weather nice?This sentence is useful for asking if the weather is nice using いい.Tatoeba #8763912 by bunbuku, translation #871776 by CK
- いい日ですね。It's a nice day, isn't it?This sentence is useful for commenting that it is a nice day using いい.Tatoeba #229326 by small_snow, translation #51842 by CK
- Yoi asagohan desu ne. (良い朝ごはんですね。)What a nice breakfast.
- Ano resutoran, ii yo. (あのレストラン、いいよ。)That restaurant is nice.
- 212 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Misaki and Kenta are talking about a new colleague at work.
- 健太 Kentaあの人はいい人だね。Ano hito wa ii hito da ne.That person is a nice person, isn't he?
- 美咲 Misakiうん、とてもいい人だよ。Un, totemo ii hito da yo.Yeah, he is a very nice person.
- 健太 Kenta性格がいいよね。Seikaku ga ii yo ne.He has a nice personality, doesn't he?
- 美咲 Misaki本当にいい人だと思う。Hontou ni ii hito da to omou.I think he is a truly nice person.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry いい, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
