Japanese conditional forms

fixelbrumpf · 23 May 2004

My Japanese professor told us that there are four kinds of conditional forms in Japanese, the "-ba" form, the "-tara" form, the "-to" form and the "-nara" form.
He told us the difference in meaning between the four forms, but (as far as I know) didn't tell us the exact verb forms. Let's take the verb 行く。

I know the "-ba" form is 行けば and the "-tara" form is 行けたら (this is correct, isn't it?) :?
What are the exact verb forms of the "-to" form and the "nara" form? I'm guessing 行けと and 行きなら? (According to Windows IME, "ikenara" seems to be ungrammatical.

Bonus question: what's the Japanese equivalent of "by X" as in "written by X" or "made by X"?

Thanks in advance.

PaulTB · 23 May 2004

fixelbrumpf said:
My Japanese professor told us that there are four kinds of conditional forms in Japanese, the "-ba" form, the "-tara" form, the "-to" form and the "-nara" form.
He told us the difference in meaning between the four forms, but (as far as I know) didn't tell us the exact verb forms. Let's take the verb 行く。

I know the "-ba" form is 行けば and the "-tara" form is 行けたら (this is correct, isn't it?) :?

Er, no.

fixelbrumpf said:
What are the exact verb forms of the "-to" form and the "nara" form? I'm guessing 行けと and 行きなら?

Er, no.

行けば
行ったら
行くと
行くなら

This should really be covered in any decent text book. What isn't always covered well is the subtleties* of when to use which - for that you need a _really_ good text book ;-)

* Damn I hate trying to spell that word. (Sounds like sut-el-tease to me ^^;

Elizabeth · 23 May 2004

Here's a past link on this general subject you might find useful, @fixelbrumpf . Although I may have misspelled subtleties and it was a while back so my Japanese may be a bit off as well.

Conditional for Dummies? | Japan Forum

fixelbrumpf · 23 May 2004

PaulTB said:
Er, no.

Er, no.

行けば
行ったら
行くと
行くなら

This should really be covered in any decent text book. What isn't always covered well is the subtleties* of when to use which - for that you need a _really_ good text book ;-)

* Damn I hate trying to spell that word. (Sounds like sut-el-tease to me ^^;

Thanks a lot! I guess my textbook is supposed to be pretty good, but I don't think conditional forms are covered in it at all, probably because they're deemed too complicated for first and second semester students. My professor seems to think otherwise -- we only discussed them briefly, though.

So the "-tara" form uses the same stem as the te and ta forms... I guess that's a big "duh", I really should've guessed that. こんな事いいな、できたらいいな！ Myself, I don't see anything wrong with the word "subtleties".

Thanks for the link, Elizabeth, reading thread now.

Elizabeth · 23 May 2004

Myself, I don't see anything wrong with the word "subtleties".

There's nothing wrong with it per se, outside of English , besides having the extremely rare pattern of "leties," preceeded by "btle" (any other words like this?) with it's silent b and e.

mdchachi · 23 May 2004

You can say iketara, by the way. But it means when/if you can go not when/if you'll go.

For example 行けたら行く would mean, "I'll go if I can."

Now, Pop quiz for you:
how would you say this using the -ba form?

Keiichi · 23 May 2004

For verbs, kinda like the "can," form, but with -ba in the end.
行けば
食べれば
すれば

For i-adjectives, use -kereba after dropping i.
寒ければ

For nouns and na-adjectives, there isn't, and you use -nara.
きれいなら
先生なら

Glenn · 24 May 2004

mdchachi said:
You can say iketara, by the way. But it means when/if you can go not when/if you'll go.

For example 行けたら行く would mean, "I'll go if I can."

Now, Pop quiz for you:
how would you say this using the -ba form?

:?

That would be 行ければ行く.

PaulTB said:
行くなら

Just a note on the なら conditional, traditionally it is used with nouns and noun equivalents only, so according to traditional Japanese grammar it should be 行くのなら. However, what PaulTB said is not incorrect, because it is in common use nowadays. I guess this is similar to split infinitives in English, being that in formal writing you should use the traditional way, but in speech and more informal writing the less traditional way can be used with no problem.

mdchachi · 24 May 2004

Glenn said:
That would be 行ければ行く

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Japanese conditional forms

fixelbrumpf

先輩

PaulTB

Manga Psychic

Elizabeth

先輩

fixelbrumpf

先輩

Elizabeth

先輩

mdchachi

Moderator

Keiichi

Hi

Glenn

一切皆苦

mdchachi

Moderator

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