Japanese with Manga

Asking to have tea with 〜てもいい

Grammar Explanation: Permission to do with 〜てもいい

Manga panel from ご注文はうさぎですか？ showing example of Asking to have tea with 〜てもいい.
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Following a misunderstanding, Cocoa and her friends ended up at the tea house where Syaro works.

ココア:
「せっかくだからお茶(ちゃ)してってもいいかな？」
“Since we have the chance, would it be okay if we had some tea ?”
Literal: “Since we have the chance, I wonder if having tea is okay even if we do it?”
シャロ:
「しょうがないわねー」
“I guess it can't be helped.”

Key Points

1お茶(ちゃ)してってもいい asks permission to stay for tea
  • Cocoa checks whether the group may have tea before leaving the shop.
2してって contracts していって
  • お茶(ちゃ)していく describes stopping for tea on the way, and casual speech compresses していって to してって.
3かな makes the request less direct
  • The literal “would it be okay” becomes a tentative request, while せっかくだから supplies the reason for asking.
4しょうがないわね accepts with mild reluctance
  • しょうがない means “it can’t be helped”. Final わね makes Syaro’s acceptance sound conversational rather than harsh.

Vocabulary

(With much effort)

せっかく marks an effort or valuable opportunity that should not go to waste. Depending on the sentence, it can mean “after taking the trouble” or “since we have the chance”.

See Also

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