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  1. アイスクリームを食べたら、おなかがいたくなりました
  2. コーヒーを飲んだら、ねられませんでした

In the above examples, can たら be translated as "because"? If not then why?

istrasci
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jap gakusei
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  • 1) https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2686/verb-%e3%81%9f%e3%82%89-always-have-ambiguous-meanings 2) https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/393/differences-among-%e3%81%9f%e3%82%89-%e3%81%aa%e3%82%89-%e3%82%93%e3%81%a0%e3%81%a3%e3%81%9f%e3%82%89-%e3%81%88%e3%81%b0-etc – mackygoo Jun 09 '17 at 05:09
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    @A.Ellett: [Comments are not for answers](https://japanese.meta.stackexchange.com/q/593/78). – istrasci Jun 09 '17 at 05:33

2 Answers2

2

たら is a conditional, it does not imply cause like 'because' would.

If you wanted to imply cause, then you would write:

アイスクリームを食べるとおなかがいたくなります。

or

アイスクリームを食べたからおなかがいたくなりました。

The way to use たら is for hypothetical situations or suggestions:

あついなー。アイスクリームたべたら？

アイスクリームたべたらからだがひえてくるかな？

Ricky
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(1) アイスクリームを食べたら、おなかがいたくなりました
In the above examples, can たら be translated as "because"? If not then why?

(0)アイスクリームを食べたとき、おなかがいたくなりました。
(1)アイスクリームを食べたら、おなかがいたくなりました。
(2)アイスクリームを食べると、おなかがいたくなりました。
(3)アイスクリームを食べたから、おなかがいたくなりました。

Translations are only for reference.
(0) When I ate the ice cream my stomach began to hurt.
(1) On condition that I ate the ice cream my stomach began to hurt.
(2) Same as above
(3) Because I ate the ice cream my stomach began to hurt.

In A. Ellett's comment, he/she said "it isn't explaining anything more than "when" does in english as in "when i ate the ice cream my stomach began to hurt".

But, when I think about the nuance of (1) and (2) in Japanese, they have the nuance between (0) and (3). So, "たら" in the sentence (1) somewhat has a nuance of "because".

mackygoo
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  • In this sense I would be more inclined to use your examples (0) and (3) because using your example (1) in this way doesn't make good sense in my head, even though I know it's correct. – psosuna Jun 09 '17 at 17:40