Phrases involving verb-ばいい occur frequently and yet I can't find it mentioned
in any of my grammar resources. I understand that literally it means "if I do
verb, it is good" but that rarely works as a sensible translation. The
sentence that caused my question is

> なんと呼びかければいいのかと質問してみたのであるが、...

Which I'm translating as

> I tried inquiring as to how I should address him but, ...

It confused me because, whilst it isn't a wild step to go from ' if you do x
it will be good' to 'you should do x', putting the question word なんと at the
front makes that simple logic fail.

So my question is what is the general grammar for verb-ばいい (with and without
question words)? What range of meanings can this phrase have? Also, can I
replace いい with よくない to invert the meanings? Thanks.
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2015-07-11T08:59:02.637
25615
2015-11-15T17:55:58.600
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grammar
The grammar of verb in ば form followed by いい
In my experience, Japanese uses this ～ばいい WAY more than we would in English.
Textbooks and what-not break it down by saying "if you do ~, it's good"
because it helps you grasp the concept quickly and allows you to break the
sentence up into understandable chunks. When trying to translate something
like this into natural English, however, you will often find this grammar
(translated literally like this) does not make sense. So, you're correct in
this case.

I often just translate it as...  
"It's fine to ~."  
"I'm all right with you ~."  
"I should ~."  
And much more, but it always depends on the context.

In this case, I'd personally go with something like...

```

    "I tried asking what he would like to be called, but..."
    
```

But it's up to you. You can do as you see fit based on the whole context, the
character of the speaker, etc, etc

As always, I'm never sure I'm 100% right. So, if you or anyone else coming on
here knows more on the subject and finds I'm incorrect, please post a
different answer. We are all still learning. I hope though, that this helps
the OP understand just a bit better. :)
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2015-07-11T09:47:04.573
25617
2015-07-11T09:47:04.573
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answer