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Conjunction
| A conjunction which indicates that the preceding sentence is the speaker's supposition about the truth of a present or past fact or the actualisation of something in the future. | If it is true that; if it is the case that; if; would; could |
| 【Related Expression: たら (ば, と4)】 |
(ks). 松田が来る(の)なら僕は行かない・行きません。
If it is true that Matsuda will come, I won't go.
| (i){V/Adjective い} informal | (の)なら | |
| {話す /話した} (の)なら | If it is true that someone talks/talked | |
| {高い /高かった} (の)なら | If it is true that something is/was expensive | |
| (ii){Adjective な stem/ N} | {のだった(の)}なら | |
| {静かの/静かだった(の)}なら | If it is true that something is/as quiet | |
| {先生の/先生だった(の)}なら | If it is true that someone is/was a teacher |
(a). シカゴへ行くのならバスで行きなさい。
If you go to Chicago, go by bus.
(b). 杉田が来たのなら僕は帰る。
If Sugita has come, I'll go home.
(c). そんなに高いのなら買えません。
If it is that expensive, I can't buy it.
(d). 山田先生が好きなら手紙を書いたらどうですか。
If you like Mr. Yamada, why don't you write a letter to him?
(e). 高橋先生ならそのことを知っているでしょう。
If it is Professor Takahashi, he probably knows about it.
1. Basically, Sentenceなら expresses the speaker's supposition concerning the truth of a present or past fact or the actualization of something in the future.
2. なら is the simplified form of ならば, the conditional form of the copula だ. (⇨ ば) In modern Japanese, however, ば is usually omitted.
3. Since なら is the simplified conditional form of the copula, it requires a noun or a noun equivalent. Thus, if the preceding element is not a noun, it is nominalized by の (⇨ の3), although this の is optional in modern Japanese. (The stems of な type adjectives behave like nouns; therefore, they can precede なら without being nominalized. See Formation (ii).)
4. When Sentence1 is nonpast, Sentence1ならSentence2 cannot be used if it is nonsensical to suppose the truth of Sentence. Thus, the sentences in (1) - (3) are all unacceptable. (1) is unacceptable because it never fails to become ten o'clock; (2) is unacceptable because one can never tell whether it is true or not that it will rain tomorrow; (3) is unacceptable because the speaker already knows it is true that he wants to go.
As seen above, なら cannot be used (A) if Sentence1 never fails to happen, (B) if one can never tell if it is true or not that Sentence1 will happen, or (C) if the speaker already knows Sentence1 is the fact.
If Sentence1 is counterfactual, Sentence1ならSentence2 can be used. For example, (4) is acceptable because Sentence1 expresses the speaker's counterfactual feeling.
Note that in this case the nominalizer の is preferred.
5. Sentence1ならSentence2 cannot be used if the completion or actualization of Sentence1 brings about Sentence2.
If Sentence2 does not express a past event or a present habitual events but expresses a present state, the speaker's opinion, volition, judgment, command, request or suggestion, Sentence1なら can be used as in (7).
(7)
6. When Sentence2 in Sentence1ならSentence2 is past, Sentence1 must be a past event or state. For example, in (8), Sentence1 represents a past event, and Sentence1なら indicates that the speaker supposes the truth of Sentence1.
(8) can also be used in a counterfactual situation where it means 'If it were true that it rained, there should have been no game.' In this case the nominalizer の is preferred.
7. のなら often becomes んなら in conversation.