Learn Japanese With Me #1

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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! 😅

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

Oh and of course us

Honourable mention

接続詞（せつぞくし）

conjunctions - words that are used to link phrases together

情報を加える // Adding information：

しかも　besides そのうえ　moreover, on top of that さらに　moreover, on top of that そればかりか　not only that, but also... そればかりでなく　not only that, but also...

情報を対比する // Putting into contrast：

それに対して　in contrast 一方　whereas

他の可能性・選択肢を言う // Giving alternatives：

あるいは　or perhaps (presenting another possibility) それとも　or (presenting another option within a question)

結論を出す// Drawing a conclusion：

そのため　for that reason したがって　therefore そこで　for that reason (I went ahead and did...) すると　thereupon (having done that triggered sth. to happen) このように　with this (adjusting a conclusion to the arguments given beforehand) こうして　in this way

理由を言う // Giving a reason：

なぜなら...からだ　the reason is というのは...からだ　the reason is

逆説を表現する // Expressing a contradiction：

だが　however, yet, nevertheless (contradicting what one would have expected) ところが　even so (spilling a surprising truth) それなのに　despite this, still それでも　but still (despite a certain fact, nothing changes)

説明を補う // Amending one's explanation：

つまり　that is, in other words (saying the same thing using different words) いわば　so to speak (making a comparison) 要するに　to sum up, in short

説明を修正する // Revising one's explanation：

ただし　however (adding an exception to the information stated beforehand) ただ　only, however もっとも　however (obviating any expectations that might arise through the previous statement) なお　in addition, note that (adding supplementary information)

話題を変える // Changing the subject：

さて　well, now, then (common in business letters after the introductory sentence; is often ignored in tranlations) ところで　by the way

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I'm looking for like something like with mostly hiragana and katakana characters and just a small amount of kanji. something like manga or a magazine would probably be the most fun, but maybe like an elementary school story book would be easier to find?

I need to actively practice my kana so i don't lose it and drilling the list of characters is really boring.

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