Understanding 「…でけっこうですので、…」


In my textbook, I encountered the phrase

> 先生のお時間があるとき **でけっこうですので** 、[わからない言葉を教えていただきたいんですが]

I assume that the meaning is approximately "I'd like to ask you something, but
it's OK if you don't have time", but I don't understand the grammar used here
at all.

How do I use this 「…でけっこうですので、…」 properly?




けっこう has many meanings but you should check it has a core meaning like
'quantity/quality is much' basically. In this case, it means 'ok', 'good', or
'satisfied'. ですので means 'so', 'since' or 'therefore'. The translation would be
like this.

> It's **good enough** for me to get the answer when you're available, so ...

「...でけっこうですので、...」 is popular phrase because it certainly asks something but
will not ask forcefully. More casually you can say 「...でいいので、...」. いい can be
used here as a casual form of けっこう. 「来月でいいのでレポートを提出して」 sounds like "It's ok to
submit the report in the next month. So be sure to do it".

Last of all, I thought your translation might cause a little misleading. This
doesn't say "it's OK if you don't have time" but "it's OK if the answer is
late".

