幸い / 幸いなことに【さいわい / さいわいなことに】

幸い and 幸いなことに mean "fortunately". They open the sentence, and what follows is something that turned out well when it might have gone badly.

幸い can also come after the first half of a sentence, right before the lucky part, as in the last example.

幸いなことに

幸いなことに says the same thing with more weight on the speaker's relief. It belongs to the family of おどろいたことに驚いたことに ("surprisingly") and ざんねん残念なことに ("unfortunately"): a feeling about a fact, put up front.

What follows is a fact that has happened or is the case. A wish, a plan or a request doesn't fit.

• × 幸いなことに、明日は晴れてほしい → 明日は晴れてほしい

Usage notes

These go beyond "fortunately" at the start of a sentence.

幸いにも

さいわい幸いにも is a third form with the same meaning, a little more emphatic than 幸い. All three sit more comfortably in writing and careful speech; among friends, うん運よく ("luckily") or a plain よかった is more usual.

〜と幸いです

At the end of a request in a business email, 幸い means "I would be grateful". It follows a conditional, most often 〜ていただけると.