Consider the following two sentences,
- 仕{し}事{ごと}が早{はや}く終{お}わったら行きます。
- 仕{し}事{ごと}が早{はや}く終{お}われば行きます。
Is there any difference between them?
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2Upvoted your question. Thank you for raising the problem we native speakers often overlook. – eltonjohn Jul 09 '15 at 05:08
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2@eltonjohn: 本当に１００％日本人ですか。:-) – Friendly Ghost Jul 09 '15 at 05:17
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Are you satisfied if I say "No?" ;-) – eltonjohn Jul 09 '15 at 06:54
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See also [Differences among -たら、なら、-んだったら、-えば, etc](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/393). – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 17 '16 at 02:02
3 Answers
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There are few chances you could sense the difference outside some edge cases but, yes, they have a little difference such as...
AたらB literally comes from "When A is over, then B", so it could imply that A has higher probability to be satisfied. A(れ)ばB, on the other hand, doesn't get along with an A happens as matter of course.
明日起きたら電話します。 (Fine.)
明日起きれば電話します。 (Won't you get up tomorrow!?)
AたらB can describe a one-off event, where AればB indicates general condition.
天国に行ったら何をしますか？ (Fine.)
天国に行けば何をしますか？ (Are you going to heaven every vacation!?)
(Note: judgements may vary among speakers, see the discussion below.)
As an aside, たら is not formal language. You should use -たならば in those settings.
broccoli facemask
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<明日起きたら電話します。 (Fine.)> Not necessarily. There is a possibility that the speaker intends to say "明日起きなかったら電話しません". <俺、戦争が終われば結婚するんだ。 (Are you marrying someone for each war ends!?)> Not necessarily again. The speaker can intend to say "戦争が終わらくて、結婚できないかもしれない". In either case, you need context to be more precise. – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 06:18
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3@eltonjohn 「明日起きたら～」: That's simply because たら allows both "iffy" reading and "consequence" reading, which れば doesn't. 「俺、戦争が～」: Could you further clarify, for I can't imagine what you're concerning about. – broccoli facemask Jul 08 '15 at 06:29
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1"戦争が終われば結婚する" *can* imply "戦争が終わらないので結婚しない/できない”. As I said, you need context to include/exclude that possibility. – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 07:05
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1@eltonjohn Maybe I'm still not getting your point, but if you say 「戦争が終われば結婚する」, it sounds like either you 結婚 each time a war ends, or 結婚 is something automatically happens even you don't wish or do. However, if you change the verb into 結婚できる, then れば sounds perfect as well. – broccoli facemask Jul 08 '15 at 09:11
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1後者の例は個人的には前者の例と同様に、「戦争が終われば結婚するつもりだ（けど、戦争が終わるかどうかは分からない）」という風に読めました。「戦争が終わるたびに毎回結婚する」という解釈は思い付きませんでした。 – naruto Jul 08 '15 at 10:00
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@broccoli forest: I agree that *with a bit of scrutiny* it can be read as either you 結婚 each time a war ends, or 結婚 is something automatically happens even you don't wish or do. But the first possibility coming into my mind (as a native speaker) is that the speaker is anxious he cannot get married because the war will not be over in a foreseeable future. See the above comment by naruto who looks to have the same impression as I do. – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 10:35
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2@naruto & eltonjohn もしかしたら想定している状況が違ったのかもしれません。例えば、「俺、この戦争が終われば今の彼女と結婚するんだ」という文は自然に聞こえますか？また「天国に行けば何をしますか」というのはどうですか？両方とも言える、というのであればちょっと考えないといけないですね… – broccoli facemask Jul 08 '15 at 11:35
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They both sound natural. 俺、この戦争が終われば今の彼女と結婚するんだ sounds to me as "I will marry my current girlfriend if/when this war is over." 天国に行けば何をしますか sounds to me as "what will you do if you go to Heaven?" For the former, I will say "Good luck!" and for the latter "I am not inclined to think about it right now." – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 11:46
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1じゃあ、「俺、この戦争が終わっ**たら**今の彼女と結婚するんだ」「天国に行っ**たら**何をしますか」は、どういう意味に聞こえて、どう返答されるんですか。「れば」の場合と同じですか？ – Chocolate Jul 08 '15 at 12:47
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@Choko: I guess the answer remains the same. Though この戦争が終われば sounds more of "*if only* this war is over" while この戦争が終わったら simply sounds as "if/when." When compared to "天国に行ったら", "天国に行けば" sounds a bit stiff and gives me the impression that the next question will be "what will you do in case you go to Hell, then?" – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 13:21
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1「俺、この戦争が終われば今の彼女と結婚するんだ」は微かに硬いけど不自然には聞こえません（戦争が終わるかどうか不確定さが増す感じはあります）。「私、この戦争が終われば今の彼と結婚するつもりよ」だと全く自然に思えます。「天国に行けば何をしますか」は妙に聞こえますが「100億円あれば何をしますか」ならまあ構わない気がします、理由はよく分からない…。 – naruto Jul 09 '15 at 00:46
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1@eltonjohn naruto ありがとうございます。個人的には、個別具体的な（類的でない、抽象化していない、再現しない）行為で「れば」を使うのは不自然と感じています。なので想定される動作主が複数いたり、「できる」「つもり」「だろう」などのモダリティを付加したり、否定命題に書き換えたりすると言及されている行為が一般的もしくは架空のものになってしまうので、「れば」の容認度がぐんと上がるのはその通りだと思います。「天国」の例でも、通念上一人の人間が天国に行くのは1度だけのはずなので、「天国に行けば何をしますか」は不自然である、と予想していました。同じ「行けば」でも、例えば「ハワイに行けば何をしますか」は 「ハワイに行った時はいつも何をしますか」などという意味であれば言えると（個人的には）思います。いずれにしても話者の判断が微妙なので、Googleで "天国に行ったら何を" がヒットするのに対し "天国に行けば何を" がヒットしないことをもって、これに差し替えようと思います。 – broccoli facemask Jul 09 '15 at 04:24
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1It seems to me that the distinction between 〜ば and 〜たら is controversial. This site -> http://1311racco.blog75.fc2.com/blog-entry-1624.html describes many opinions that are sometimes incompatible. This site is far from being well-organised, but it is partly due to the nature of this issue. I thank @Friendly Ghost to raise the problem we native speakers often overlook. – eltonjohn Jul 09 '15 at 05:05
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They have exactly the same meaning, namely "I will go (there) if I finish the task early."
Some may argue that 仕事が早く終われば sounds a bit more formal, though.
eltonjohn
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+1 and I am still waiting for other answers if any. It is my policy. Thank you. – Friendly Ghost Jul 08 '15 at 04:58
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5This is answer is incorrect. The 〜ば and 〜たら conditional forms carry different nuances as broccoli forest has pointed out. – paullb Jul 08 '15 at 09:05
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@paullb:
No. They *can* carry different nuances, but that depends on the context. – eltonjohn Jul 08 '15 at 10:09
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I think what happened here is that eltonjohn and broccoli forest answered two different questions.
Consider the following two sentences,
1.仕事が早く終わったら行きます。
2.仕事が早く終われば行きます。
Is there any difference between them?
eltonjohn says...
They have exactly the same meaning, namely "I will go (there) if I finish the task early."
Some may argue that 仕事が早く終われば sounds a bit more formal, though.
I believe this is 100% correct.
However, broccoli forest says...
There are few chances you could sense the difference outside some edge cases but, yes, they have a little difference such as...
AたらB literally comes from "When A is over, then B", so it could imply that A has higher probability to be satisfied. A(れ)ばB, on the other hand, doesn't get along with an A happens as matter of course.
This is also 100% correct.
How?
Because eltonjohn is talking about the specific example given, while broccoli forest is talking about the difference between たら and えば in general.
えば is more hypothetical than たら, but when you add the qualifier 早く, you're automatically taking the statement into hypothetical terrain, thus negating the difference between the two.
In other words...
1.仕事が終わったら行きます。
2.仕事が終われば行きます。
... are slightly different in that in 1., the job finishing is practically a given, while the same can't be said for 2. (maybe I'll finish, maybe I won't)
BUT...
1.仕事が早く終わったら行きます。
2.仕事が早く終われば行きます。
In neither case is the job finishing soon a given - just adding the qualifier 早く kills any distinction.
Think about it:
仕事が終わったら行きます can be translated as "I'll go once the job is done", whereas 仕事が早く終わったら行きます has to be translated something like "I'll go provided I finish the job quickly."
