The expression をいいことに is used to describe someone taking advantage of a situation or circumstance – typically in a way that is selfish, opportunistic, or worthy of criticism. It conveys the nuance that the person exploits a favorable condition for their own benefit, often at someone else's expense or in an irresponsible manner.
The pattern attaches to a clause describing the exploited situation, followed by what the person does as a result.
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Taking advantage of the teacher being away, the students started goofing off.
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He takes advantage of his parents being lenient and does whatever he pleases.
Key nuances
- The speaker almost always views the action negatively – the person is doing something they shouldn't be doing, or is exploiting a situation unfairly.
- The subject taking advantage is usually someone other than the speaker, though it can be used self-deprecatingly.
- The clause before describes the condition being exploited, and the clause after describes the opportunistic action.
Structure details
The full pattern is Noun/Clause + をいいことに. The preceding clause typically uses the plain form with to nominalize it:
、。
Taking advantage of nobody watching, I secretly ate some sweets.
A noun can also precede directly:
、。
He always asks her for favors, taking advantage of her kindness.
- 〜～: marks an opportunity or trigger, but without the negative connotation of exploitation.
- 〜～: similarly means "to exploit" and carries the same negative nuance, but is more directly accusatory.
Lingaku