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Questions tagged [conditionals]

条件表現. Also known as if-then constructions. In Japanese conditionals are expressed with one of と, ～(れ)ば, ～たら, なら(ば).

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Differences among -たら, なら, -と, -んだったら, -ば, etc

The Japanese language has a lot of patterns for "if" clauses. What are the differences among the following patterns and how do we choose to use one over the others?: 行くと 行ったら 行くなら 行けば 行くんだったら 行くのなら 行くとしたら 行くことになったら 行くならば p/s: Please add any other…
Lukman
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Difference between ”conditional” いい and 方がいい for providing recommendations

I've noticed that there are multiple ways of providing or asking for a recommendation in Japanese. The sentence structures I'm talking about are as follows: したらいい すればいい したほうがいい In almost all situations I see these they get translated as…
Dan
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"Should" in Japanese

The word "should" in English has these uses when not used as a question: To express the expectation of the speaker (Probabilistic reasoning). The train should arrive in 10 minutes. To express a condition Should it rain, the event will be…
Flaw
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How to know if ～たら is hypothetical or temporal

I encountered the following sentence in the chapter introducing conditionals from the online grammar guide Imabi. 休んだら、元気になったWhen I rested, I got better. Earlier, the article explained that たら can have either a hypothetical or a temporal meaning.…
G-Cam
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How do you say "if and only if" in Japanese?

I would like to know how to express mandatory conditions in Japanese. Since Japanese distinguishes between different types of languages, I should probably ask more precisely: What is the right way to express equivalence statements (the kind a…
Dominik
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Conflict among teachings of なら and ば

I recently read a helpful answer on a question asking for clarification on the ways to say "if" in Japanese: と, たら, なら, ば. The link is here: Differences among -たら、なら、-んだったら、-えば, etc According to the post, ば has the following rule: the later clause…
rhyaeris
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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。 What meaning does たら have at the end of a sentence?
Fate
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2 different ways to describe consecutive actions

名前書いたら帰る (I will write my name and I will go home) I was a bit confused because of the conditional たら, so I tried to made up a sentence to later ask a native speaker: シャワーを浴びたら公園に行く (I want to say: "I will take a shower and I will go to the…
kuonb
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"Reversal" nuance of なら

「帰るなら、窓を閉めなさい！」 I recently asked my teacher about なら being used in this command sentence, and she said while it was acceptable, it had a different meaning compared to 「帰ったら、窓を閉めなさい！」 While the たら sentence seems to imply closing the window after…
rhyaeris
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Difference between しては and nominalizer のは

Last time I wanted to say "Disturbing someone is bad", so I directly wrote: 誰かを邪魔するの悪いよ But I just came across another way of saying it : 誰かを邪魔しては悪いよ It bothers me a lot not to know the nuance between those two, because it's not the first time…
Tchang
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Is it ever right to use ば conditional to mean 'when'?

「だっ大丈夫よ、まるちゃんだってわたしたちのタイプだと思うよ、ねぇ」ととし子ちゃんがなぐさめれば、「そうだよ。さくらはぼくらの方の仲間だよ」と長山君が笑顔で言い、「そうよ」とたまちゃんが優しくうなずく。 (When?) Toshiko comforted her, saying, "It's alright. I think Maru is our kind of person", Nagayama smiled, saying "That's right Sakura is on our…
user3856370
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Difference between ば and たら in this example

明日都合がよければきてください. 東京へきたら、ぜひ連絡してください. Why in the second example we can't replace たら with ば but in the first one we use ば. Aren't きてください and 連絡してください both requests or is there a difference?
Ahmed Abdel Moneim Elket
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Difference between にすれば　にしたら　にしてみれば "from the viewpoint of..."

I'm using 新完全マスター N2 grammar book. It lumps にしたら、にすれば、にしてみれば and にしても together. It makes no attempt to explain the differences between these, even though, on inspection of the examples and practice questions にしても clearly has a somewhat different…
James Edwards
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What is the difference between「ものなら」 and 「(の)なら」?

I would like to understand the nuance between two sentences. I found on a website the sentence : この問題{もんだい}を解{と}けるもんなら解いてみろ。 : If you can solve this problem then try solving it. And I wondered what would the difference be if I just used 「なら」…
Tchang
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Standard Formula for Past Counterfactual Conditional (what is the role of -te iru?)

What is the standard formula for making a counterfactual conditional sentence that talks about the past? That is, English conditionals that have this pattern: "If ..... had ..... , ..... would have ...... " I have checked these similar questions…
Esoppant
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