Why is お金があると車を買うつもりだ wrong?

Question

お金があると車を買うつもりだ。

For some reason or another the statement is wrong. I thought the use of と is OK for 状態動詞 (which in this case is 買うつもりだ). Why is this wrong?

Answer 1

Please read this question. The main clause after と must be non-volitional; that is, you cannot directly use たい, (よ)う, つもりだ, なさい and so on after と. In your case, you have to say お金があれば車を買うつもりだ, お金があるなら車を買うつもりだ or お金があったら車を買うつもりだ. Or you can use と when you describe a similar cause-effect relationship as an objective fact (e.g., お金があると人は車を買う).

See also How Conditionals Work in Japanese: …と, …ば, …たら, and …なら. You may think the main function of と is closer to "whenever" or "and then".