I do not understand the following construction using -tte iu nara

Question

Goku (the character speaking) says “~ni modorutte iunara” here, and I’m not sure what it means.

I can only guess the “iu” means “say” and the “nara” is used to state an authorative truth, but that only makes half sense.

Translations of this are not literal enough (“if you agree to go back to …”) to understand the grammatical nuances here.

What does it really decompose to?

Where did you get that なら is "used to state an authorative truth."? — Leebo, Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 6:14
“nara” is used to state an authorative truth -- I'm sorry but I don't understand. Have you looked up なら in a dictionary? eg jisho.org/search/%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89 — chocolate, Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 6:16
It’s in Makino: nara behind the verb/noun states something as true according to the speaker. — buddhabrot, Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 6:29
What is Makino? Googling doesn't really seem to bring up anything relevant. — Leebo, Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 6:30
#3は品詞が違います。#3 is a different part of speech. なら as #3 is 接続詞. It's a shortened form of それなら "If that's the case". You use it this way:「なら、助けてやる。」=「それなら、助けてやる。」"If that's the case, I will help you." The なら in your question is a 助詞 meaning "if", not a 接続詞. — chocolate, Commented Sep 25, 2021 at 6:52

buddhabrot · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-25 06:48:50Z

0

I think I understand now from the comments, I was getting hung up on a complex meaning of nara - that may not exist.

The iu just stands for “say”, so “if you say you will return to .., then, …”

Silly, I know

answered Sep 25, 2021 at 6:48

buddhabrot

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