Mou sukoshi dake de ii. This little phrase was from a song. What I do understand is “More by a little only de is good” or more understandably, “Just a little more de is good”. However, I'm not sure I understand the use of de here. De is the particle which I know as meaning “through” or “by means of”. Is it then being used as in, “By means of just a little more, it is good.”?
もう すこし だけ で いい
Jyuune
January 2, 2021
Emma-Rocket-Japanese-Tutor
January 7, 2021
こんにちは (Konnichiwa) Jyuune,
Thanks for your question.
Are those lyrics by chance from one of the 君の名は (kimi no na wa) "Your Name" songs? I loved that movie!
Anyway, on to your question!
This use of で (de) is a little different to what you've learned so far. This で (de) is expressing a "total amount."
で (De) is often used in this way with words that express quantity, time, or money, to express the amount of something that is required. For example, "You can buy (it) for 500 yen":
500円で買えます。 (Go-hyaku en de kaemasu).
In the lyric もう少しだけでいい (mō sukoshi dake de ī), this で (de) is expressing the amount that is needed for it to be okay (いい (ī)), which isもうすこしだけ (mō sukoshi dake) "just a little more."
You'll see で (de) used a lot in this way with the adjective いい (ī). For example:
寿司でいい (Sushi de ī) "Sushi is fine."
I hope this helped. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
勉強を頑張ってください！ (Benkyō o ganbatte kudasai!)
Thanks for your question.
Are those lyrics by chance from one of the 君の名は (kimi no na wa) "Your Name" songs? I loved that movie!
Anyway, on to your question!
This use of で (de) is a little different to what you've learned so far. This で (de) is expressing a "total amount."
で (De) is often used in this way with words that express quantity, time, or money, to express the amount of something that is required. For example, "You can buy (it) for 500 yen":
500円で買えます。 (Go-hyaku en de kaemasu).
In the lyric もう少しだけでいい (mō sukoshi dake de ī), this で (de) is expressing the amount that is needed for it to be okay (いい (ī)), which isもうすこしだけ (mō sukoshi dake) "just a little more."
You'll see で (de) used a lot in this way with the adjective いい (ī). For example:
寿司でいい (Sushi de ī) "Sushi is fine."
I hope this helped. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
勉強を頑張ってください！ (Benkyō o ganbatte kudasai!)
Jyuune
January 8, 2021
Yes, it is indeed from 君の名は! And as for the use of で, I suppose it is actually fairly similar to how we normally use で. It's sort of expressing “by means of x amount, it is y." It makes more sense looking at in that way now; thank you for your help.