Conditionals

Make sure you have read the legal bit on my home page.

In principle, there's only one conditional you'll ever need: end the clause containing the condition with tara.

The connectivity is the plain past form + ra:

• ureshika,tara "if happy";
• ureshikunaka,tara "if unhappy";
• yumeida,tara "if famous";
• odo,tara "if dancing";
• juubakuda,tara "if a binding spell".

The dependent clause is always in the present tense. Examples:

juubakuda,tarasaburinasanhaodorimasu. "If that's a binding spell, Sabrina will dance."

mahoutsukaisamahajuubakuwotata,tarasaburinasanhate-burunouedeodorimasu. "If the magician cast a binding spell, Sabrina will dance on the table."

The good side of tara is that it can be used for conditionals of all sorts. The bad side is that, since it can be used for conditionals of all sorts (and even, as seen in the previous section, for successive events which are not really conditional on anything), it's imprecise and capable of being misconstrued.

There are three more precise but trickier alternatives:

The first is ba, which can only be used with verbs or i adjectives:

• ureshikereba "if happy";
• ureshikunakereba "if unhappy";
• odoreba "if dancing".

The trick is (and read this carefully) that if the action described in the conditional clause has defined duration, the dependent clause cannot be anything which concerns the speaker's will (intention or hope, for example) or anything which persuades or directs of the listener. If, however, the conditional clause has undefined or extended duration, there are no restrictions on the dependent clause. Got that? If not, use tara, which is simpler.

The spell itself has undefined duration, but it's a noun, so can't use ba. Casting it has defined duration. My understanding of the rules is that since it's the wizard who directs Sabrina to dance, you can't use ba to say "If the magician cast a binding spell, Sabrina will dance on the table." But maybe others read the rules a different way.

One ba sentence you will want to know is:

tatoeba. "For example."

Second on the list is nara:

• ureshiinara "if happy";
• ureshikunainara "if unhappy";
• yumeinara "if famous";
• odorunara "if dancing";
• juubakunata "if a binding spell".

This can be used

• As a substitute for ba, useable with na adjectives and nouns, in which case all the rules of ba apply
• In conversation, when applying someone else's condition to oneself. Note that this is the one and only circumstance when you can't use tara and it has to be nara.

tatoeba:

warumono1:mahoutsukaisamahatatarisoudeshita. Ruffian 1: "The wizard seems to have cast a spell."

warumono2:watashigatatarunarasaburinasanhanugimasu. Ruffian 2: "If I had cast the spell, Sabrina would undress."

There is a subtle difference between tara and nara, to do with order of events. Compare the following two examples (kau is "buy"):

atorantisunii,tarakireinakimonowokaimasu. "If you go to Atlantis, buy a pretty kimono." Buy it while you are there. Kimono from Atlantis are in fashion.

atorantisuniikunarakireinakimonowokaimasu. "If you go to Atlantis, buy a pretty kimono." Buy it before you go. Residents of Atlantis judge people by the way they dress.

Third on the list is to:

• ureshiito "if happy";
• ureshikunaito "if unhappy";
• yumeidato "if famous";
• odoruto "if dancing";
• juubakudato "if a binding spell".

This is used to indicate that when the condition is met, the dependent clause necessarily follows. In general, all the rules of ba apply, except that it can be used to refer to the speaker's habits, since habits are to some extent unintentional.

Finally, there is temo, "even if", which indicates that even if the condition (which would normally preclude the dependent clause) is met, in this case, the dependent clause will, contrary to expectation, still happen.

Connectivity:

• ureshikutemo "even if happy";
• ureshikunakutemo "even if unhappy";
• yumeidemo "even if famous";
• odo,temo "even if dancing";
• juubakudemo "even if a binding spell".

warumonogashyokudounitakusanitemosaburinasanhanuideimasu. "Even though there are many ruffians in the dining room, Sabrina is undressing."