Japanese learning (A2 S25): Preconditional Clause ending with “-tara,” and the Main Clause says what will do/happen under the condition; [preCon]+tara, [Main Clause].

The section 25 is to learn two conjunctive particles; “-tara,” and “-temo,”. Remember that “-tara,” makes So-Therefore connection and “-temo,” makes But-However type connection to the main clause. The exercise A2 and A3 introduce sentence constructions that use “-tara,”, and A2 shows variations when the preconditional clause has the predicates of a verb, I-adjective, Na-adjective, and Noun.

(1) Preconditional clause has a Positive Verb predicate

– Ame ga Futtara, Soto ni Dekake masen. (If it rains, I will not go outside.)

(2) Negative Verb

– Jikan ga Nakattara*, Asagohan o Tabemasen. (I I don’t have time, I don’t eat breakfast.)

* Note that negative form of the verb”Aru” is not “Aranai” but “Nai”.

(3) I-adjective

– Nami* ga Takakattara, Umi de Oyogimasen. (If the wave is high, I will not swim in the sea.)

* Nami : noun ; wave

(4) Na-adjective

– Heya ga Kirei*dattara, Souji Shimasen. (If the room is clean. I will not clean it.)

* Note that “Kirei” is not an I-adjective, but a Na-adjective.

(5) Noun

– Ashita Yasumi dattara, Kaimono ni Ikimasu. (If it’s day-off tomorrow, I will go shopping.)

The above examples have the construction below;

[Preconditional Clause] + tara, [Main Clause].

The speaker makes an assumption at the preconditional clause, and then says what he/she is going to do if the precondition happens. It is usually unclear as to probability of occurrence of the precondition. These things make a little bit of difference from tomorrow’s the exercise A3.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section25 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”