LLearn Japanese

(と、ば、たら、なら）Please Help Explain To Me, “If” Is Driving Me Insane

I have scoured what I feel like is everywhere and every time I find an explanation that is somewhat helpful I end up smashing my face against this wall and I feel like I keep going in circles of understanding and not. The concept at its core of being If/When I get, but the nuance just escapes me and I want to absolutely 100% understand, so that is why I am asking anyone here for their assistance. What are the differences of these four words? 説明してください。

9 comments

  6. I’ll give you the short version, but I usually teach it like this:

    と is a force of nature or something inevitable.
    春になると桜が咲く
    It’s inevitable that Sakura will bloom when spring comes.

    ば is for hypothetical situations, they may or may not happen.
    運が良ければ合格する。
    If I’m lucky I’ll pass.

    たら can be used for both hypothetical and actual situations, the main thing is it talks about a one-time instance of something.
    夏になったら日本に行く
    When summer comes I’ll go to japan (were talking about one instance of summer and one instance of going to japan)

    なら usually narrows down a category from something too broad to something smaller
    If someone asks 音楽が好きですか that might be too big of a question so you might want to narrow it down and say ジャズなら好きです (if we’re talking about jazz, then yeah I like it)

    なら has other uses too, like saying no to a question but offering a comparable answer.
    if someone asks コーヒーを飲みますか you could say お茶なら飲みます so that’s kind of like saying (no, but I drink tea)

    This is pretty simplified but it’s the gist of how conditionals work. Feel free to message me if you have questions. I have a degree in education and Japanese linguistics. It’s my jam.

  7. You’ve gotten many thoughtful answers, but say you’re looking for a simple rule of thumb. When in doubt, たら is the safest.

  8. Here’s some stuff I wrote down in my personal notebook on the topic:

    —

    **と – The と conditional** is the exact same と that we use as an “and”. An exhaustive listing particle connecting two nouns. This と that, and nothing else. It’s exclusiveness is its defining characteristic.

    冬になると寒くなる – “when it becomes winter it gets cold”

    The way と conditional works in a similar way as the “and” particle, is because it’s specifying an exhaustive list of outcomes. “When it becomes winter” the only result that can occur is that “it gets cold”.

    So it’s: “Winter comes, AND, it gets cold, and nothing else can happen.” which ends up meaning “When it becomes winter, it gets cold”.

    It can also be used hyperbolically. To exceed the description.

    それを食べると病気になる – “If you eat that, you will get sick.” – It doesn’t have to mean literally, but it can.

    Again, in essence it is: “Eat that, AND, become sick, and nothing else” which leads to meaning: “If you eat that, you will get sick.”

    We can also use と to say that something is necessary.

    行かないとダメ – “If I don’t go, it will be bad.”

    Literally “Do not go, AND, no good, and nothing else.” which leads to meaning: “If I don’t go, the only outcome is no good.” And in practice it gets the meaning of: “I must go.”

    と tends to be a bit more “strong” and “casual” than alternative options.

    —

    **ば れば** has the defining characteristic of only being used for hypotheticals. So it must always mean “if”. If referring to past events, it must always be referring to events that didn’t happen, otherwise it wouldn’t be a hypothetical.

    It’s used in many common Japanese expressions.

    どうすればいい – “How, if I act, will be good.” – “What should I do?”

    傘を持ってくればよかった – “Umbrella, If I had brought, been good.” – “I should have brought an umbrella.”

    勉強しなければいけない – “If I don’t study, it won’t go / it won’t do.” – “I must study.” – There is no literal word for “Must” in japanese, so these sentences must be constructed in a way as to say: “If I don’t do this, something negative happens”.

    In casual speech it’s sometimes shortened to: しなければ or the even shorter しなきゃ.

    It tends to stress the condition, whether it’s going to be fulfilled or even the fact that it wasn’t fulfilled.

    —

    **The たら conditional** is made by putting any verb or adjective into its past た/だ form and adding ら. It is the only conditional that can be used for past events that happened.

    Now, technically that also makes it not a conditional because we know that the condition was fulfilled, because it already happened. But it does show that what happened in the past was surprising or unexpected.

    If we used this “conditional” for an event that has already occurred, we’re essentially emphasising the fact that it probably shouldn’t have happened, that the expectation was that it would not happen.

    家に帰ったらさくらがいた – “When I returned home, Sakura was there.”

    たら can also be used for future events like a proper conditional. And it tends to stress the thing that will happen if the condition is fulfilled. And in that situation it tends to imply the expectation that the condition will be met.

    たら leans towards being interpreted as “When”, rather than “If”.

    —

    **なら is the easiest conditional** to use, we only ever add it after something and it turns it into a conditional. We can put it after nouns and after complete logical clauses. And we don’t need to use a copula after it, probably because the な has roots in that.

    Its main characteristic is that it is often used for past and future conditionals that aren’t really in doubt at all. It’s a sort of a Context bringer.

    さくらならできる – “If it is Sakura, it will be possible.” We’re saying that “Since it’s Sakura, it will be possible.” It can be used to reassure them, that we have confidence in them.

    駅和どこですか – “Where is the station?” and people can reply: 駅ならあそこです – “If it’s the station you’re asking for, it’s over there.” and of course we’re asking about the station, so it’s more like: “Since it’s the station you’re asking about, it’s over there.”

    In both these cases there’s no doubt what is being talked about.

    In the first case we’re saying that because it’s Sakura, it is possible, saying that to reassure them. And in the second we’re just confirming the station as the thing that’s being asked about.

    All the conditionals are often interchangeable, but these small nuances can occur.

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