In Japanese, ii いい means "good." Except when it doesn't. Which is most of the time.
Depending on context, ii can mean "alright," or "fine," or "okay," or "better."
For example:
- sono hou ga ii
その方がいい
That way is better. - kaette ii?
帰っていい？
Is it okay to return?- Can I go home?
- kore de ii
これでいい
With this, it's alright. - ame ga furu to ii na
雨が降るといいな
If rain rains: good.- It'd be good if it rained.
- I wish it rained. I hope it rains.
- yomeba ii
読めばいい
It's good if [you] read [it].- You should just read it.
It's also used in some pretty ways you wouldn't expect.
For example, suru ga ii するがいい is a pretentious sounding line used by villains in manga.
Phrases that end in wa ii はいい can mean either "that's good" or "that's unnecessary" depending on context, even though "good" and "unnecessary" sound like complete opposites..
Grammatically, ii いい is an i-adjective, but it isn't inflected like other adjectives. Instead of inflecting ii いい, you inflect the synonymous, but less used, yoi よい.
Thus, yokunai よくない, yokatta よかった, yoku よく, etc. end up being de facto the inflections of ii.
Furthermore, both ii and yoi can be spelled with kanji in a dozen different ways: 良い, 好い, 善い, etc. But they're normally spelled with hiragana instead.
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