1

"ここに名前を書くだけでいいですか？" means "Is it ok to just write [my] name here?"

I'm confused about where でいい comes from.

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/must#part5 is about conjugating ていい /でいい to adjectives and verbs.

I don't know which grammar rules are applied when でいい is conjugated to nouns as in "ここに名前を書くだけでいいですか？".

Can anyone tell me?

  • 3
    I think _conjugate_ in grammar means, for example, to render "walk" into "walked". Are you using it in this sense? – broccoli facemask Feb 03 '15 at 12:13
  • 1
    related http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/12387/is-%E3%81%A7%E3%81%84%E3%81%84-the-same-as-%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%84%E3%81%84 – Axe Feb 03 '15 at 13:09
  • @broccoliforest Since I was not familiar with the word "conjugate", I accidentally meant "join together" by "conjugate". Please note that english is not my primary language. Yet, I learn japanese with english materials. –  Feb 04 '15 at 09:36

2 Answers2

0

The option でいい is also available for nominals: 

 (1) それでいい。
     It's ok/enough.
 (2) そのままでいい。
     It's fine that way.

だけ in 書くだけ is a nominal, but it is not free, rather it must attach to something, in this case 書く. だけ is a nominal suffix, and it expresses a limitation, rendered in English as only or just. Other limitative nominal suffixes are ばかり, ぐらい・くらい, ほど, まで, and どころ.

Since だけ is a nominal, the expression でいい can attach to form your example, (1), (2), or others.

Thomas Gross
  • 1,096
  • 1
  • 6
  • 9
0

The 「〜でいい」 you see after nouns can be analyzed as follows:

「だ」's continuative form + 「いい」

「だ」's continuative form, 「で」, should not be confused with the 「…で」 you see in the て-form of verbs (like 「飲んで」), which is actually just a 「て」 that has undergone a sound change:

　 //nomite//
⇒ //nomte//
⇒ //nonde//

Darius Jahandarie
  • 15,498
  • 4
  • 43
  • 108
  • Your answer is the one I was looking for. Can you give me the online reference? I want to learn more about the continuative form. –  Feb 04 '15 at 09:38
  • It's known as the 連用形{れんようけい} in Japanese. I don't really know a good resource on it, but I've personally written about it here: [What is the meaning and application of ren'youkei?](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18951/what-is-the-meaning-and-application-of-renyoukei/18964#18964) Unfortunately, I don't include the 「で」 we are talking about here in that explanation, so it is probably not very useful. – Darius Jahandarie Feb 04 '15 at 21:25