part 5. 《subjunctive mood》“…tara”, “…reba”,“…to (nara,temo)”
(if..., no matter how...)
~~ A Happy New Year! ~~
I am sorry that it has been so long since the last time. I have just returned to Japan from Barcelona in 22 years, so I have been very busy with moving and other things.
This time, I'd like to talk about the ‘subjunctive’ in Japanese and the ‘conditional’ in English. This is another sentence that appears frequently in everyday conversation.
They are called ‘hypothetical’ or ‘conditional’ because they are used when thinking beyond the real world of expectations and fantasy, such as ‘If it rains tomorrow, I will cancel my hiking trip’ or ‘If you study every day, your Japanese will improve tremendously’.
First, there are three different ways to do this: ‘tara（たら）’, ‘reba（れば）’, and ‘to（と）’.
1. ‘tara（たら）’
ーー Most fanciful and least feasible ーー
In general, ‘tara’ is used in extremely fanciful, or less feasible, situations.
The following sentences are often used as examples.
「もしも私が鳥だったら、空を自由に飛べるのになあ！」
（If I were a bird, I could fly freely in the sky!)
It is a fantasy world with exactly zero feasibility. But since these dreams have given birth to a variety of aircraft, fantasy and dreaming must be an extremely important act for mankind.
It is important to note here that the ‘datta(だった)’ in ‘If I were a bird(もしも私が鳥だったら)’ is a Japanese past be verb of ‘da(だ)’, and In English, the verb ‘were’ is also a kind of past tense of the verb ‘be’, and at the sane time in Spanish, the past tense of the subjunctive ‘fuera’ or ‘fuese’ is the past tense of the verb ‘ser’(be verb).
Why do people use the past tense when thinking about the uncertain future? It is very interesting!
Anyway, the ‘ta(た)’ in ‘tara(たら)’ is the past tense ‘ta(た)’ of verbs and adjectives. So don't forget that if the past tense ends in ‘da(だ)’, it becomes ‘dara(だら)’.
2. ‘reba（れば）’
ーー A bit hypothetical, quite feasible ーー
「そりゃあ、カツ丼３杯も食べれば、太りますよ！」
(If you eat three bowls of katsudon, you will get fat.)
Thus, ‘reba(れば)’ is used when it is sufficiently feasible. However, this ‘reba(れば)’ is only used when the verb is ‘○○る’, and not when it is used with other verbs, e.g. ‘go(行く)’ to ‘行けば’ or ‘sing(歌う)’ to ‘歌えば’. In this case the final ‘...u’ in the infinitive form of the verb is changed to ‘...eba’.
Furthermore, the present tense of the verb is always used (including the future tense in Japanese) and not the past tense. (Sorry for often quoting my favourite katsudon!)
3. ‘to（と）’
ーー Less hypothetical, fully feasible ーー
「次の角を右に曲がると、駅が見えます」
(When you turn right next corner, you will find the station.)
This method is often used, for example, to give directions. In English, ‘when...’ In Spanish, ‘cuando...’ and is barely part of the subjunctive. It is used to describe something that can be achieved immediately. Of course, everything is in the present tense, no changes are necessary, just join the infinitive form of the verb with a ‘to(と)’.
However, the three methods above are by no means strictly different in the degree of assumptions and conditions, and can be substituted for other methods in many situations. In other words, the Japanese are often tempted to ‘Go a bit over the top!’ or ‘Let's just say it plainly here!’, depending on their mood. Please feel free to use it yourself!
And ‘もしも’ , ‘もし’ are also words of emphasis, just like ‘if’ in English and ‘si’ in Spanish, and can also be added if the mood strikes you. The word ‘もしも’ has a slightly stronger nuance than ‘もし’. (The Japanese comedian Drifters’s entertainment programme “"Moshimo" series” were quite funny, too.)
However, there are several other hypothetical and conditional uses.
◆「nara (なら)」
This usage arose from ‘sorenaraba(それならば)’. When B and C are equal, ‘It seems to have been simplified from ‘A is B. Then A is C.(ＡはＢである。それならばＡはＣである)’ to ‘ ＡがＢなら、ＡはＣである’. In other words, it is often used to describe the expected result or suggestion when a certain thing has been chosen or determined in advance. You often hear it in road safety campaigns, by the way. This is also the case with the verb present tense +なら and the verb past tense + たら（or だら）.
「飲むなら乗るな、乗るなら飲むな！」
(If you drink don't ride, if you ride don't drink!)
◆「temo (ても)」
‘temo(ても)’ is used when, despite certain conditions, the result is not as expected, and is another sufficiently
hypothetical/conditional usage.
「たとえどんなに人が頑張っても、チーターのように速くは走れないでしょう」
（No matter how hard people try, they will never be able to run as fast as a cheetah.）
Here too, the final ‘ta(た)’ of the past tense of the verb is changed to ‘temo(ても)’ , and ‘da(だ)’ to ‘demo(でも)’.
In this case, the emphatic ‘moshimo(もしも)’ or ‘moshi(もし)’ often changes to ‘tatoe(たとえ)’ as in ‘tatoe donnani ... temo, ... darou(たとえどんなに・・・ても、・・・だろう)’, like “No matter how” in English or ‘aunque’ in Spanish, so to speak.
Oops, did you remember? At Vol. 17, Chapter 3, ‘・・・しなくてはいけない！(must...!)’, the phrases ‘...shitemo ii(してもいい)’ and ‘...shitewa ikenai(してはいけない)’ discussed in Part 1, are also part of this hypothetical/conditional system.
If you ‘can get through these=korera wo kuria- dekitara(これらをクリアーできたら)’ which appear frequently in conversations and sentences, your Japanese language skills are already above intermediate level. Practise as many times as you like and you'll be able to speak smoothly!
☆☆☆☆《Example sentences for this issue ☆☆☆☆
If you read this blog from <1>, you will surely enjoy learning Japanese. And if you learn a few hiragana, katakana and kanji every day, you will be able to read Japanese characters. And if you make a few Japanese friends, you can easily enjoy conversing in Japanese.
もしあなたがこのブログを〈１〉から読んだら、きっと日本語を楽しく学ぶことができるでしょう。そして、毎日ひらがなやカタカナ、漢字を少しづつ覚えれば、あなたは日本の文字を読めるようになります。またそのうえ何人かの日本の友達を作ると、簡単に日本語の会話を楽しむこともできるでしょう。
Again, feel free to use the words you have learned and write sentences like the example above.
＊
Now, look forward to the next issue!
ーーー The next post will be
Part 6, Direct speech and indirect speech
See you next time!
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