20
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Conflict among teachings of なら and ば
In some sense, you can say なら is a subtype of ば. なら is ならば in its full form, and although this word makes no sense in modern Japanese, it did in olden times. Classical ならば is but a regular inflection ...
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15
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What does たら do at the end of a sentence?
時間があるなら、彼の画廊に寄ってみたら。
If you have time, why don't you drop by his art gallery?
When used at the end of a sentence, and usually with a rising tone, たら indicates a suggestion, recommendation or advice, ...
13
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How to use なきゃ correctly
First, なきゃ is a contraction of なければ:
What is the meaning of りゃ in this phrase?
Meaning of 話になんない
Second, the literal, primary meaning of なきゃ/なけりゃ/なければ is "if not".
なければ often comes at the end of ...
- 264k
13
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"Reversal" nuance of なら
The most concise explanation would be:
A なら B means "if there is an A, there is a B"
A たら B means "if A is completed, B happens"
なら doesn't really care about the time order. B could take place ...
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11
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How do you say "if and only if" in Japanese?
Two common ways of translating "if and only if" use the terms 必要十分条件 ("necessary and sufficient condition") and 同値 ("equivalence").
a > b は式 (15) である為の必要十分条件である。
...
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9
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Difference between しては and nominalizer のは
誰かを邪魔するのは悪い
lit. Disturbing someone is bad
誰かを邪魔しては悪い
lit. If/should it disturb(s) someone, it is bad
の is but a nominalizer, while ては is a conditional expression. You can translate the ...
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8
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What is function of から in conditional statement?
Here are the original lyrics:
夜が明けたら一番早い汽車に乗るから
切符を用意してちょうだい
私のために一枚でいいからさ
今夜でこの街とはさよならね
わりといい街だったけどね
The から in the first line simply means "because", and the first line works as the ...
- 264k
8
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The logic behind なくば
なくば is an older form of なければ. It's not generally used in modern Japanese (outside of perhaps a few fossilised expressions like さもなくば), but is still recognised and can be used as part of an affected ...
- 6,521
8
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Difference between ほど and かぎり
They're so different that I've never thought those two words same. I think you're fooled by the English definition because "to the extent" can certainly cover both use cases to some extent. ...
- 48.1k
7
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Other uses of the たら conditional
Your first understanding is correct. The other usages you give are also correct and I would consider them good translations. While it is a 'conditional' it has a broader meaning than just 'if'. Like ...
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Two different polite forms of the conditional conjugation
Neither is common. In fact, 戦いませば and 戦いますれば are almost never used in modern Japanese. You have to use 戦いましたら.
I sometimes hear stereotyped samurai in samurai dramas say 戦いますれば. It's indeed "if (...
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7
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How certain is たら？
How certain is たら?
This question reads like asking, "How certain is if in English?" Nobody can tell exactly unless they know the full context. Also, it depends on what you say. If you say ...
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7
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How to know if ～たら is hypothetical or temporal
「休んだら、元気になった。」
「本を読んであげたら、弟が喜びました。」
I would interpret them as...
"When I rested, I got better."
"When I read a book for my little brother, he was delighted."
(In these examples, the たら verb ...
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7
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What does the verb after なくちゃ or なくては mean?
You are thinking of なくちゃ as must, but it's really just a contraction of なくては. なくてはならない and なくてはいけない are used to mean "must", and sometimes the final verb is dropped and なくちゃ by itself is used as a ...
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7
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Use of だと when not quoting
There are multiple distinct と's other than the quoting one, each has quite important meanings. Here it is conditional.
ここまで想定内の味だと、ある意味感動的よ！
"If it is of this much unsurprising taste, it's ...
- 48.1k
6
votes
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Conditional counter-factual, main verb past vs nonpast?
Present
安ければ買います
Has this got two opposing meanings, or is it simple less-specific (or specific in another way) compared to English? We could express the meaning as:
when cheap → buy
If we turn to ...
- 4,401
6
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Expressing "for/in exchange for"
Your translation attempt looks already perfect to me, but if you want to translate even more literally, you can say:
そのモンスターを倒すことでどれくらいの経験値が貰えるの？
こと after a verb is a nominalizer, which turns ...
- 264k
6
votes
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Double negative not making sense
Yes, ～なければなりません also means the same as ～なければいけません. These two can be regarded as fixed phrases.
Therefore 運動を続けなければなりません means "they must continue the campaign."
It's enough if you understand this ...
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6
votes
Can you say Dekiba
The short answer
No, you can't say dekiba. Or rather, you could indeed say that, but it's not correct and folks might not catch your intended meaning. :)
The long answer
Dekiru is a so-called "...
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6
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What does「電車に乗ってたらなんだっていうんだろね」mean in this context?
Ignore my suggestion in the comments! Actually I think the way you should interpret this is "what difference does it make if he's riding the train?" Grammatically some key points are:
乗ってたら is a ...
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6
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Kansai variant(s) of ～しちゃ危ない／だめ
As a native Kansai-an I have to point out: the natural way to say it is:
(a) 火遊びしたら危ないで！
(b) 火遊びしたらアカンで！
It'd be odd to say "しちゃあかんで" as you don't say しちゃ in Kansai dialect.
”してもうたら” has ...
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6
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Having trouble making sense of the sentence "解いてから帰らないとすっきりしないんだ"
The と is a normal conditional と.
The scope of the negation (～ない) is the whole 解いてから帰る, not just 帰る.
I think you can think of it this way:
［解いてから帰(る)］+ ないと、すっきりしないんだ
→ If I don't do "解いてから帰る"...
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5
votes
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Is it ever right to use ば conditional to mean 'when'?
From スーパー大辞林:
ば
③ […] 引き続いて起こる事柄についての，きっかけを表す。…すると。
If I may add more to the quoted definition, this is a particular type of 〜ば where it denotes the chronology of a single occurrence (trigger ...
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