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I know that ば is to indicate that "if A happens, B will happen too".

So, today, I've listened a song and it says:

I gotta believe
I don't wanna know 下手な真実なら
I don't wanna know　知らないくらいがいいのに
Why? Why? Why? Why?
気づけば　I came too far.

(The mixture of Japanese and English is in the original.) I can't translate the last verse. I don't think that it means "If I realize". So I would like to know what is the meaning of this "気づけば".

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  • Is the part in inverted commas, over two lines and in two languages the sentence you are trying to understand?
    – Mathieu Bouville
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 17:50
  • Sorry. Now I've edited. The sentence I want to know is "気づけば　I came too far"
    – Kiw
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 17:52
  • It would be clearer to provide the original first (with perhaps a bit of context), then your attempt at a translation.
    – Mathieu Bouville
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 17:54
  • Sorry again. Here it is " I don't wanna know heta na shinjitsu nara I don't wanna know shiranai kurai ga ii noni Why? Why? Why? Why? Kizukeba I came too far" From this website kamenrider.fandom.com/wiki/EXCITE
    – Kiw
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

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It is a relatively minor, rhetorical usage of ば:

２
㋑ある事態・結果に気づくきっかけとなった動作・作用を表す。…したところが。「ふと見れば西空は夕焼けだった」「思えば悲しい出来事だった」

It has little conditional sense here, just takes sensory verbs before and some fact after, describing that the speaker just have recognized the fact (often belatedly).

気づけば　I came too far.
= When I realized it, I had (already) come too far.
= I had come too far before I realized it.

(The tense in the translation above is somewhat confusing. I know... I guess that's what the line actually means.)

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