Expressing Relief with "İyi ki"
To express relief, gladness, or thankfulness, use the phrase iyi ki ("fortunately," "thank goodness," or "it is a good thing that").
| fortunately / it is a good thing that | iyi ki |
Place iyi ki in a clause with a fully conjugated verb. It is perfect for talking about escaping a bela (trouble) or arriving sağ salim (safe and sound).
| Fortunately you returned home safe and sound. | İyi ki eve sağ salim döndün. |
| Fortunately we escaped from that trouble safe and sound. | İyi ki o beladan sağ salim kurtulduk. |
Narrow Escapes and Avoiding Trouble
When telling stories about close calls, you will often use phrases like kıl payı (narrowly) alongside verbs like atlatmak (to dodge) or bulaşmak (to get involved). Combine these with iyi ki to express relief at successfully avoiding a bad situation.
| Fortunately we narrowly dodged that trouble. | İyi ki o belayı kıl payı atlattık. |
| Fortunately you didn't get involved with that man. | İyi ki o adama bulaşmadın. |
Discussing What Could Have Been
iyi ki frequently pairs with statements about what almost happened. You can establish a dangerous context using past intention markers (like -acaktı for "was going to"), or use yoksa (otherwise) to show the alternate reality if you had been mistaken (yanılmak) or if things had gotten worse (beter).
| Fortunately you were not mistaken, otherwise we would have had an accident. | İyi ki yanılmadın, yoksa kaza yapacaktık. |
| The illness was going to be worse, fortunately I went to the doctor. | Hastalık daha beter olacaktı, iyi ki doktora gittim. |
Flexible Word Order
While iyi ki typically sits at the very beginning of the sentence or clause, you can also place it immediately after the subject for emphasis.
| Fortunately the teacher didn't come, nobody was studying. | Öğretmen iyi ki gelmedi, kimse ders çalışmıyordu. |
