how did you actually practice using えば、たら、なら in conversation

6 comments

1. I feel you. You can memorize their different uses all you want, but their nuance and the speed at which you need to produce words during a conversation makes it difficult. I’m curious to see what people say

2. I have a post: [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/rmrgfq/japanese_conditionals/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

   Edit: generally speaking, たら is the least restrictive.

3. In real conversations you just repeat a bunch of patterns you learn but with collocations. You just know how to say it because you’ve heard it repeated so much.

   When I was really trying to boost my output ability I went so far as to add new words for each conjugation. For example 食べた and 食べられた had two separate cards. When you are trying to have a conversation you don’t have time to ponder the textbook explanations and once I realized this and just started memorizing entire phrases things got so much easier.

4. Im very used to tara, because well ive been using it for a while but nara and eba are very recent and i havent gotten used to either.

   Its the same with node

5. Couple hints:

   Start with frequent combinations and over time, you may feel more comfortable making your own. Eg, 暇なら　時間があれば　うちに帰ったら　そういえば etc. たらいい/だめ even work for this. Just build up “muscle memory” for those constructions (as to where you get these, some textbooks, or just asking someone like you are now!)

   (Won’t work for everyone) Imagine putting yourself in situations where you need to talk about conditions between events. For me lately it’s getting my kid to understand plans and being patient. うちに帰ったらすぐ食べるよ and so on.

6. To begin with, なら is significantly different from other two, it’s not likely to confuse. It’s the only conditional form that can be used in reverse (preparation) and the only conditional form used with newly acquired information during talk.

   With ば and たら it’s harder, but similarly even natives use it differently depending on region or age. There are certain set phrases like ばいい or なきゃ, when you are more or less expected to use it instead of なかったら, but that’s around it.