14.1) Conditional Forms (なら)

In section 13 we talked about Japanese compound sentences and the different ways to form them. Now let’s talk about a very important kind of compound sentence - the conditional. Let’s look at one of the conditionals - なら.

As always, here is your vocabulary:

【The Grammar of なら】

なら can be attached to all of the Japanese 4 main parts of speech. Take a look at the following chart:

For the verbs and adjectives, I separated the non-past and the past forms on purpose. More on that later.

You may be thinking, “Wow, なら is a very special particle!” It turns out that なら is not actually a particle. More on that later as well.

【The Compound Sentence Connection】

なら ties in well with section 13 and compound sentences. Before, we talked about 2 or more clauses that came together to make one longer sentence. The clauses we looked at before were independent clauses - this means each clause was its own sentence.

Compound sentences with なら are a little different. The first clause is dependent. This means that it can’t stand on its own. It’s the same with English. “If I go” is not a complete sentence because it leaves you hanging.

When we look at examples using なら, the first clause will be dependent (because it sets up a condition) and the second clause will be independent (it can be a full sentence by itself).

【Context Is King】

なら basically means “if”. However one very important thing to understand is that なら requires previous context. For example, if you tell your sister that you are going to the store, the conversation might go as follows:

You: I’ll be right back, I’m going to the store.

Your Sister: Oh in that case, can you get me a soda?

The “Oh in that case” takes the context of you going to the store and makes it a condition. IF that condition is true, then the request applies. Without context (if you use なら out of the blue) your listener or reader may be caught off guard because the “condition” part will seem to come out of nowhere.

Notice that in English, “oh in that case” refers to going to the store. In Japanese, なら often seems like it is repeating the same thing twice. This is OK because it simply shows that there is context. Keep this in mind as we look at 4 different ways that you might see なら used.

【なら Is Not Certain】

The next thing to understand is that you can only use なら if the condition is not certain. For example, in Japanese you couldn’t say, “If New Years comes, let’s celebrate.” using なら. It’s the same reason why “When New Years comes” sounds more natural in English - New Years is definitely going to come. For conditions that will definitely happen, we will need a different conditional.

【1-Conditionals】

Now let’s get to the main way you will see なら used - talking about conditions.

①｛友達が来るなら｝、｛ピザを注文する｝。

= if friend comes, order pizza

= I will order pizza if your/my friend is going to come

Remember that there must be some context. This might be a couple talking about the next day’s plans. Before example 1, maybe one person said “Oh my friend is coming”. That would be the context necessary to use なら.

The next thing to understand about なら is the translation of clause 1. 友達が来る can mean 2 different things: ”friend comes (many times)” OR “friend is going to come (one time)”. なら forces the second meaning. Example 1 doesn’t say “every time my friend comes, I will order pizza.” That is a different conditional form!

The action attached to なら is a future condition. Clause 2 will happen first IF clause 1 is going to happen in the future. If the friend is going to come, the ordering of the pizza will happen beforehand. This is why in the English translation, I switched the order of the clauses and I used the “is going to come” version.

Here are 4 translations of the verb 行く used with なら:

You can see that the past forms of the verbs have no alternate meaning to worry about.

【More Examples】

②｛近いなら｝、｛歩きましょう｝。

= if close, let’s walk

= Let’s walk if it’s going to be close.

③ ｛あの大学に行くなら｝｛自転車が便利｝。

= if go to that university, bicycle is useful

= A bike will be useful If you are going to go to that university.

④ ｛外からなら｝｛撮ってもかまいません｝。

= if from outside, taking a picture is no problem

= It will be no problem if you are going to take the picture from outside.

【2-Recommendations】

Another way you might see なら used is in advertisements for products or places. You can think of this pattern as “If you are going to A, B is for you”.

⑤ {東京のマンションを買うなら｝、｛グッドコムアセット｝

= If you are going to buy an apartment in Tōkyō, Good Com Asset (is for you)

The picture above says “If you are going to read manga, Book Live (is for you)”

The nuance here is that it is a recommendation because the writer or company has knowledge about the place or product. This is the context behind this usage of なら. For more examples of this usage, type “なら CM” into Google Search and check out the images that come up.

【3-Showing Trust / Knowledge】

A related way you might see なら used is to express trust in, or show that you are knowledgeable about someone or something. One way to translate this usage is “Knowing A, B.”

⑥ 自身を持ちなさい。｛あなたなら｝｛出来ますよ｝。

= Have confidence. If you, can do it

= Have confidence. Knowing you, you can do it.

⑦｛この車なら｝、｛６人乗れる｝。

= If this car, six people can ride

= Knowing this car, 6 people can fit inside.

For these examples the context is that the speaker knows the listener in example 6 and the car in example 7 well. You’ll notice that with this usage, なら mostly attaches to nouns and pronouns.

But if なら ends the first clause, how can it be a particle? The answer is that なら is actually the conditional form of the copula! This is why it can attach to nouns to end clauses.

【4-A Substitute For は】

Finally, なら sometimes acts like a substitute for は. Remember that は has two functions - it can mark the topic and/or it can place a spotlight on whatever it is attached to.

⑧ ｛今なら｝、｛安いよ｝。

= if now, it’s cheap

= If you go / do / buy it now, it will be cheap.

⑨ ｛ダイソーなら｝｛何でも買えるよ｝。

= if Daisō, anything can be bought

= If you go to Daisō, you can buy anything.

In example 8, it is because it’s now that it is cheap. If it were any other time, maybe it wouldn’t be cheap. Likewise in example 9, you can buy anything because it’s Daisō*. Any other store and this might not be the case.

You can see how you might replace なら with は and keep the same nuance.

【Conclusion】

So that was an in-depth look at なら and the 4 ways you might see it used in everyday Japanese. Later on, we will look at comparisons between the conditional forms, but for now just remember that (1) なら needs context and (2) it attaches to a future condition. If the first clause is going to happen, the second clause will happen before it.

If you have any questions let me know. See you for the next post in this series on conditional forms!

Rice & Peace,

– AL (アル)

👋🏾

*Daisō is a 100-yen shop where most products are 100 yen. Be careful going there without knowing exactly what you need; you’ll end up buying WAAY more than you necessary! 😅

words about words in japanese

I just watched 舟を編む, it was crazy good. I want more animes about dictionaries!!! So anyway I made a vocab list inspired by that anime :) please let me know if there are any mistakes.

言語　「げんご」　language

言語学　「げんごがく」　linguistics

言葉　「ことば」　words

単語　「たんご」　vocabulary

文　「ぶん」　sentence

語彙　「ごい」　vocabulary

辞書　「じしょ」　dictionary

辞典　「じてん」　dictionary

字引　「じびき」　dictionary

（辞書・辞典・字引）を引く　「ひく」　look up in a dictionary

語幹　「ごかん」　word root, stem

語末　「ごまつ」　ending, suffix

語感　「ごかん」　feeling of a word, nuance

文語　「ぶんご」　literary language

語釈　「ごしゃく」　interpretation of a word

定義　「ていぎ」　definition

語源　「ごげん」　etymology

語学　「ごがく」　language study

語学者　「ごがくしゃ」　linguist

文法　「ぶんぽう」　grammar

古語　「こご」　old, archaic word

古語辞典　「こごじてん」　dictionary of classical japanese

手話　「しゅわ」　sign language

対訳　「たいやく」　dual language book, bilingual book

言葉を大事にする　「ことばをだいじにする」　to take care with your expressions

表現　「ひょうげん」　expression, phrase

dictionaries:

言海　「げんかい」： the first modern japanese dictionary, written by 大槻文彦　（おおつきふみひこ）　in 1891. meaning “great sea of words” (this was mentioned in 舟を編む!)

広辞苑　「こうじえん」： the most authoritative single-volume dictionary of　Japanese, literally “wide garden of words”

大辞林　「だいじりん」： another single-volume dictionary created to　compete with Koujien. Literally “Great forest of words”

漢和辞典　「かんわじてん」： kanji dictionary (general)

⇒大漢和辞典「だいかんわじてん」　is the most definitive kanji dictionary, with over 50,000 characters, and 530,000 kanji compound words.

大渡海　「だいとかい」： the fictional dictionary from 舟を編む, literally “great passage”, created to cross the sea of words （言海）

I think Japanese has very pretty dictionary naming practices. Do other languages have this? I’m not sure.

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poliglota19

5 years ago

Top 10 Myths about Introverts

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.

This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.

Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.

Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.

On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.

Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.

Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.

Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.

Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.

Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.

Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ

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poliglota19

2 months ago

NASA released the clearest pictures yet of our neighbours in the solar system

Oh and of course us

Honourable mention

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poliglota19

3 years ago

How to count from 1 ~ 100 in Japanese?☺️

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poliglota19

2 years ago

Where do you want to rent an #Apartment in Japan? Comment now! 🏠 P.S. Learn Japanese with the best FREE online resources: https://www.japanesepod101.com/?src=tumblr_apartment_image_092722

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poliglota19

4 years ago