9.3 〜なら conditional

Formation

～なら attaches directly to the plain form.

Verbs

• いく行く → いく行くなら
• たべる食べる → たべる食べるなら

い-adjectives

• たかい高い → たかい高いなら
• いそがしい忙しい → いそがしい忙しいなら

な-adjectives

• しずか静か → しずか静かなら
• べんり便利 → べんり便利なら

Nouns

• がくせい学生 → がくせい学生なら
• にっぽん日本 → にっぽん日本なら

Negative forms

～なら attaches to the plain negative form.

Verbs (negative)

• いかない行かない → いかない行かないなら

い-adjectives (negative)

• たかくない高くない → たかくない高くないなら

な-adjectives / nouns (negative)

• しずか静かじゃない → しずか静かじゃないなら
• がくせい学生じゃない → がくせい学生じゃないなら

Past forms

～なら can also attach to past forms.

Verbs (past)

• いった行った → いった行ったなら

い-adjectives (past)

• たかかった高かった → たかかった高かったなら

な-adjectives / nouns (past)

• しずか静かだった → しずか静かだったなら
• がくせい学生だった → がくせい学生だったなら

Assumptive condition

～なら is used when the condition is based on assumption, information, or context.

Here, the speaker gives advice under the assumption that the other person wants to go to Japan.

Here, the speaker assumes that the other person is busy.

It is not used for guaranteed events.

This sounds unnatural because going to work on Monday is understood as a certainty, not an assumption.

It is not used for a direct cause → result relationship.

For guaranteed or automatic outcomes, ～と or ～ば is more natural.

Counterfactual / role-switching

～なら is used to talk about hypothetical or unreal situations — things that are not true now.

This can mean imagining yourself in someone else's shoes:

Or even imagining yourself under different circumstances:

Past forms can be used to make the situation clearly counterfactual, clearly not real.

Reference / identification

～なら is also used to confirm or narrow down what someone is referring to. It means “if it’s X that you mean / are talking about”.

Points to keep in mind

• ～なら is based on assumptions