Giving Suggestions and Advice with ～た方がいい・～ない方がいい

Introduction

This time around, we'll be learning how to give suggestions and advice! In order to start telling people (politely) what they should do, we'll need the grammar structure 方ほうがいい, which is similar to "it's better to" or "you should" in English. Here, the kanji 方ほう can be understood as “way” or “method”. Alright, you’d better pay attention!

You Should Read This Lesson

Structure:

• 

  Past Casual Verb方ほうがいい
  Example:
  → 寝ねたほうがいいよ。
  ”You should sleep.”

• 

  Negative Casual Verb方ほうがいい
  Example:
  → 寝ねないほうがいいよ。
  ”You shouldn’t sleep.”

方ほうがいい is a set phrase that can be loosely translated to “you should/it’s better to (verb)” in English. As you might have guessed, it’s typically used to express any piece of advice you want to give out to your family, friends, pets, or even yourself. (Self-care is important amirite?)