How to give advice with ば and なら in Japanese

Level B1

How to give advice with ば and なら in Japanese

A colleague wants to go to the beach and asks how to get there. To answer, you say what each choice leads to and react to what they've just told you. In this lesson you do that with 行けば and 行くなら, and you see how they differ from 行ったら, using the same verbs.

New words: 〜ば, なら and what you'll compare

The list gives “if” for both 〜ば and なら, because English has one word where Japanese has several; this lesson shows how they differ. The other words are for comparing options: 着く (tsuku, to arrive), 電車 (densha, train), 店 (mise, shop), レストラン (resutoran, restaurant), 安い (yasui, cheap), 速い (hayai, fast), 車 (kuruma, car) and おいしい (oishii, delicious). The list shows おいしい in kanji, 美味しい; the sentences here write it in kana, which is just as common.

Review: comparing, can, and たら

You'll need three things you've seen before. To compare, Aより Bのほうが… means “B is more … than A”, and どちら asks “which of the two?”. To say what's possible, use the potential: 行けます (ikemasu, can go), 食べられます (taberaremasu, can eat). たら says what comes after something happens: 雨が降ったら (ame ga futtara, if it rains). Say these sentences aloud before you go on.

Model: how to get to the beach

Listen once without reading. One person wants to go to the beach on Saturday, and the other gives advice. Then notice three answers: 海に行くなら starts from the plan just mentioned, 魚なら starts from the fish just mentioned, and 電車で行けば says what taking the train leads to. The last line, 駅に着いたら (once I get to the station), is the たら you already know. じゃあ (jā) means “well then”, and どうしてですか (dōshite desu ka) means “why is that?”. 駅の前の (eki no mae no) means “in front of the station”: here 前 marks a place, not the “before” of 前に. 一時間で (ichijikan de) means “in an hour”, and その (sono) “that”.

行けば: what a condition leads to

〜ば answers the question “what do you get if you do this?”, so the second part gives the result: you'll get there in an hour, it's cheaper, you can eat good fish. To build it, start from the dictionary form. Verbs like 行く and 買う change their final u sound to e and add ば: 行けば (ikeba), 買えば (kaeba). Verbs like 食べる replace る with れば: 食べれば (tabereba). Two verbs are irregular: 来る gives 来れば, read くれば (kureba), and する gives すれば (sureba). The ば form stays the same in polite and friendly speech; only the end of the sentence changes: 着きます, 着くよ.

行け／買え／食べれば、…

行くなら: reacting to what's been said

なら takes up something just said, or something the situation makes clear, and reacts to it: “if that's the plan, then…”. In this lesson it comes right after the dictionary form (行くなら, 食べるなら, 買うなら) or a noun (魚なら). The second part is often advice or an opinion: 電車のほうがいいですよ (the train is better), この店が一番安いです (this shop is the cheapest). That's the difference between English “if you go” and “if you're going”: with なら you take the plan as given and comment on it.

行く／魚なら、…

Two short exchanges with なら

In each exchange, one person brings up a topic and the other starts from it: パン becomes パンなら, 海に行きます becomes 海に行くなら. The second answer shows something more: the advice can come before the event. You buy the water at the station, before you get to the beach.

The same verb with ば, なら and たら

Each group of three sentences uses one verb. 海に行けば… says what going leads to. 海に行くなら… takes the trip as given and advises you on it. 海に行ったら… says what to do once you're there. 食べる works the same way: 食べれば gives the result of eating here, 食べるなら advises on what to choose, and 食べたら says what comes next.

Two limits, and a form to recognize

The three forms overlap, and often more than one is correct: 電車で行ったら、一時間で着きます is fine too. But two limits are worth remembering. When the same person does a one-off action like 行く, ば sounds odd before a request or suggestion, so use たら, as in 海に行ったら、魚を食べてください. And of these three, only なら lets the response come before the event.

The sentence below uses a fourth form that you only need to recognize here: 行くと (iku to) says that the result simply follows, as it does in directions. 通り (tōri) means “street” and まっすぐ (massugu) “straight ahead”.

Your turn, and a summary

A colleague tells you 魚を買いたいです (I want to buy fish). あの (ano) means “that … over there”, and 買えます (kaemasu, can buy) is built like 行けます. Cover the sentences below. Recommend the shop in front of the station with なら and a comparison, say what going to that shop gets them with 行けば, and ask them to come here once they've bought the fish with たら; only then check. In short: ば says what a condition leads to, なら reacts to something already on the table, and たら says what comes after.

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