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I'm playing a video game called 善人シボウデス, and I noticed some grammar I'm not
familiar with:

> ところでこのラジオ、電源ケーブルに **つないだはいいが** 、この後どうすればいいんだろう？

This was said by the main character, who generally speaks in Standard
Japanese. But I didn't know you could say 〜た＋は like this in Standard Japanese,
so I tried looking it up. I mostly looked under た and は, but I couldn't find a
dictionary that covered it.

Later, in another part of the game, I noticed the same character saying a very
similar sentence:

> 電源を **入れたはいいが** 、こいつでなにをスキャンすればいいんだ？

So I started to wonder if this 〜たは was part of a larger pattern. For example,
is this 〜たは always followed by 良い and some kind of contrastive conjunctive
particle like が・けど・ものの? I searched online and saw similar examples:

> 【子役事務所】に **入れたはいいけど** 。。。どうしたらいいの？

Can anyone explain this pattern?
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2015-07-26T22:15:22.243
25955
2015-07-28T15:04:39.287
question
grammar
「〜たはいいが、……」grammar pattern
It's using the phrase as the subject of the sentence.

Have you also seen は used after the て form of adjectives? It's similar to
that.

来て **は** いるけど、まだ会ってない Although he is here, I haven't sent him yet.

So, as you might know, は is used to make comparisons. Let's take a look at
your sentence: In your sentence:

> ところでこのラジオ、電源ケーブルにつないだはいいが、この後どうすればいいんだろう？

This in English would be something like

> Although it all went well with the radio's cord, I don't know what to do now
> (after that)...

The comparison being all being good up to attaching the cord, and then it not
being good after that.

I hope this helps.
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2015-07-28T07:04:20.157
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2015-07-28T07:04:20.157
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answer
The `verb-た` + `は` + `いい/よかった` + `contradictory conj.` makes a set phrase
roughly means "have/had successfully V-ed, but now/then (the problem
is/was)...". It's one of a few idioms still allowed with direct nominalization
(technically, 連体形準体法). You can rephrase it in regular modern grammar as
`～たまではいいが` or `～たのはいいが` with meaning (almost) unchanged. While those modern
patterns also accept present form of the verb (`～するまではいいが`), the idiomatic one
never allow *`～するはいいが`.

`verb` + `は` combination generally doesn't show much productivity today, far
less than `verb` + `に`. Most surviving examples are old sayings or proverbs
based on Edo-or-earlier-period colloquial language (e.g.
[聞くは一時の恥、聞かぬは一生の恥](http://kotowaza-allguide.com/ki/kikanuwaissyounohaji.html);
I couldn't find `～たは` examples).

* * *

(Maybe) related papers:
「[滑稽本と人情本における連体形準体法，準体助詞について](https://m-repo.lib.meiji.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10291/16085/1/bungakuronshu_36_43.pdf)」,
「[準体助詞の全国分布とその成立経緯](https://m-repo.lib.meiji.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10291/16085/1/bungakuronshu_36_43.pdf)」
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2015-07-28T14:58:56.180
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2015-07-28T15:04:39.287
2015-07-28T15:04:39.287
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