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I was translating the song オレンジ by 7!! as an exercise, and I found the following sentence quite confusing:

一人になれば不安になると眠りたくない夜は話し続けていた

So far, I get that

  • 一人になれば不安になる -> If I become (remain) alone, I get anxious
  • 眠りたくない夜は話し続けていた -> We kept talking in those sleepless nights (lit. As for those nights in which I/we didn't want to sleep, we continued talking)

I'm getting confused by the と connecting the two sentences, which as far as I know should be the conditional と (as it follows a verb in plain form). Still, that sentence that should be the condition already contains a conditional made with ば.

To me, the translation "In those sleepless nights, when I got anxious because I was alone, we kept talking" kinda makes sense, but I'm guessing.

Can anyone give me an hint on that construction?

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Maybe there is a verb omitted in the phrase. The truth sentence is

「一人になれば不安になると（考えてor思ってor言って）眠りたくない夜は話し続けていた」

So it is not a conditional "と". This type of omission of verb after "と" can be sometimes founded in literature or in lyric.

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  • Ok so you think it's the "quoting" usage of とin this case. Let's assume the omitted verb is 思う, what is the quoted part, the one after ば? How would you translate it?
    – asanf
    Apr 10, 2021 at 18:13
  • I thought that if I become alone I get anxious, so I kept talking in those sleepless nights. .
    – pentagonose
    Apr 10, 2021 at 18:20
  • This man (or woman) didn't want to be alone, so he did't stop talking (maybe on the phone).
    – pentagonose
    Apr 10, 2021 at 18:26

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