About the たら form

Truzen · 16 Jan 2019

Hi again. About the たら form, whether the たら clause is in the past or non-past depends only on the context?

For example, if i want to say, "if you have taken damage, heal yourself" and "if you will take damage use the shield". I think both sentences in Japanese uses the following たら clause: あなたがダメージを受けたら despite one being in the past and the other in the future. So, considering a person that doesn't know what heal and shield is, is it possible that the listener doesn't know if he/she have to use the shield/heal after or before taking the damage?

mdchachi · 16 Jan 2019

Truzen said:
Hi again. About the たら form, whether the たら clause is in the past or non-past depends only on the context?

For example, if i want to say, "if you have taken damage, heal yourself" and "if you will take damage use the shield". I think both sentences in Japanese uses the following たら clause: あなたがダメージを受けたら despite one being in the past and the other in the future. So, considering a person that doesn't know what heal and shield is, is it possible that the listener doesn't know if he/she have to use the shield/heal after or before taking the damage?

Probably you'll want to use something like 受けたら (if receive(d) [damage]) and 受けそうなら (if looks like receive [damage]).
Or 受ける場合 (in the case that [damage] is received). Or 受ける前 (before receiving [damage]).

Toritoribe · 16 Jan 2019

See the following threads.

たら vs. ば vs. と? Conditonals - Japan Forum
もし and ならば - Japan Forum
Need a word or phrase translated? - Japan Forum
場合(?) - Japan Forum

The temporal order of the two events is "main clause --> conditional clause" in your latter example. たら conditional can't be used in this case, so you need to use ダメージを受けそうなら or other forms, as mdchachi-san suggested.

About the たら form

Truzen

Kouhai

mdchachi

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Toritoribe

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