maa ii まあいい

In Japanese, maa ii まあいい is an expression used when the speaker doesn't care about something anymore and wants to change the subject of the conversation or go back doing what's actually important. In a sense, it means "whatever."

It's also spelled maa ii まぁいい, maa ii まーいい.

Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 5)

• Usage
  • まあいいか

Usage

Literally, maa ii まあいい is the adverb maa まあ, which means "I guess," plus the i-adjective ii いい, which means "good." So maa ii means "I guess it's good."

Since it's "good," it's "okay," "it's "fine."

And if it's "fine" that means "nothing wrong" with it. There's "no problem."

And if there's "no problem," then there's "nothing to do about" it. Because the way it is is "fine" already, so you don't have to do anything.

And that's how maa ii works. The ii いい means that whatever it is, it's fine already and you can leave it alone, ignore it. And the maa まあ is just an adverb to state an opinion you're kind of unsure about. Something you "guess," you "feel."

You guess that's fine, so you don't need to mind it. In fact, "never mind that." Let's get back to business.

Manga: Gintama 銀魂 (Chapter 43)

• Context: Hijikata Toushirou 土方十四郎 invited someone to a restaurant to talk. Before getting to the main topic, however, they criticized Hijikata's peculiar food preferences.
• ...nanda kore?
  ･･･何だコレ？
  What's this? (emotive right-dislocation.)
• ogotte-yatta noni
  kono haiboku-kan...
  おごってやったのに
  この敗北感･･･
  This feeling of defeat
  in spite of treating [them to some food].
  • ogoru おごる
    To treat. To pay for someone's food.
  • ~yaru ～やる
    To give someone something. (auxiliary verb.)
• ...maa ii
  ･･･まぁいい
  ...whatever.
• honsuji no hanashi wo shiyou
  本筋の話をしよう
  Let's [get to] the main topic.
  • Literally: "let's do the talk of the main topic."

Note that sometimes you'll have a sentence ending particle like wa わ after maa ii まあいい. That hardly changes anything: it works the same way.

Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 5)

• Context: Vignette ヴィネット just wants to get with the program.
• maa ii wa...
  まぁいいわ･･･
  Whatever... (never mind that.)
• hajimemashou
  始めましょう
  Let's start. (already.)

maa ii ka まあいいか

The phrase maa ii ka まあいいか is maa ii plus the doubt particle ka か. It also means the same thing. The only difference is that the speaker is even less sure about whether it's alright, it doesn't matter, or not.

• maa ii ka?
  まあいいか？
  I guess it's fine?
  • I mean, it's fine, isn't it?
  • This thing?
  • I suppose it is?
  • I mean, is there any reason to bother with this anymore?
  • Because I don't think so?
  • Whatever, then, I guess?

See Also

• mou ii もういい