Today, we’re going to learn how to say “if” and “when” using たら(tara). This article goes over the concepts in this video. I recommend you watch the video first and refer to this article whenever you want to review.
Using たら to Explain what Might Happen
Previously, we learned how to use と(to) to say “If/When I do X, Y will happen.” たら can do the same thing.
食べすぎると、太る。
Tabesugiru to, futoru.
食べすぎたら、太る。
Tabesugi tara, futoru.
If I eat too much, I get fat.
ピーナッツを食べると、死んじゃう。
Piinattsu wo taberu to, shinjau.
ピーナッツを食べたら、死んじゃう。
Piinattsu wo tabe tara, shinjau.
If I eat peanuts, I die.
So how is たらdifferent from と? If you recall, とis used when one event always leads to another. On the other hand, when you use たら, the statement is not always true, or you are just guessing that is what will happen.
Clause 1たら、clause 2。
If Clause 1, then (because of OR after I do clause 1) clause 2 happens.
牛乳を飲むと、お腹が痛くなる。
Gyuunyuu wo nomu to, o-naka ga itakunaru.
When I drink milk, my stomach (always) hurts.
牛乳を飲んだら、お腹が痛くなる。
Gyuunyuu wo nondara, o-naka ga itakunaru.
If I drink milk, I will get sick.
In the second sentence above, you are not sure that you will get a stomachache, you are just guessing that you will.
To use たら, first change the verb to its past tense, then add ら。
食べる →食べた →食べたら
Taberu → tabeta → tabetara
食べます→食べました→食べましたら
tabemasu→tabemashita→tabemashitara
飲む →飲んだ →飲んだら
nomu→nonda→nondara
書く →書いた →書いたら
kaku →kaita →kaitara
お姉ちゃんが私のケーキを食べたら、怒る。
O-neechan ga watashi no keeki wo tabe tara, okoru.
If my sister eats my cake, I will be angry.
明日雨が降ったら、うちにいる。
Ashita ame ga futtara, uchi ni iru.
If it rains tomorrow, I will stay home.
食べすぎたら、太っちゃう。
Tabesugi tara, futocchau.
If I eat too much, I get fat.
If you have read the article on using と, you may remember that we used this same sentence withと.
食べすぎると、太っちゃう。
Tabesugiru to, futocchau.
If I eat too much, I will get fat.
So, what is the difference between the two sentences above?
As I mentioned before when you use と, you imply that you will definitely get fat if you eat too much and you’re sure that the listener is planning to eat a lot. But if you use たら、you imply that you could get fat if you eat too much, but you’re not sure, and maybe the listener isn’t planning to eat a lot anyway.
Another difference is that when you use と, you cannot talk about the past unless you use it to say something surprising happened, but you can use たら to talk about the past.
食べすぎたら、太っちゃった。
Tabesugi tara, futocchatta.
When I ate too much, I got fat.
Here, the second clause is in the past tense.
You can also use とき(toki), but remember that とき emphasizes time, so you if your friend asked you when you got fat, you can use とき, but if you want to focus on the result, or the fact that you got fat, you should use たら.
食べすぎたとき、太っちゃった。
Tabesugita toki, futocchatta.
WHEN I ate too much, I got fat.
The Word Order Matters
The order is important when you use たら。The first clause has to be true in order for the second one to come true.
勉強しなかったら、試験に合格できない。
Benkyou shinakattara, shiken ni goukaku dekinai.
If I don’t study, I can’t pass the exam.
また遅れたら、首になる。
Mata okure tara, kubi ni naru.
If I’m late again, I’ll get fired.
Remember that when you use たら, the first clause must be true in order for the second to be true. You can’t use たら if the order is switched.
❌日本に行ったら、まずカメラを買う。
Nihon ni ittara, mazu kamera wo kau.
If go to Japan, I’ll buy a camera first.
In this sentence, you cannot use たら because the first clause (go to Japan) happens after the second clause (buy a camera). For this sentence, we can replace たらwith なら(nara).
日本に行くなら、まずカメラを買う。
Nihon ni iku nara, mazu kamera wo kau.
If I go to Japan, I’ll buy a camera first.
Clause 2 → Clause 1
ウェディングドレスを買うなら、まず痩せる。
Wedingu doresu wo kau nara, mazu yaseru.
If I buy a wedding dress, I’ll lose weight first.
Clause 2 → Clause 1
ウェディングドレスを買うなら、白にする。
Wedingu doresu wo kau nara, shiro ni suru.
If I buy a wedding dress, I’ll buy a white one.
*In the last sentence, you can’t use たら because it is not really two separate events.
If buying a wedding dress causes something else, then you can たら.
ウェディングドレスを買ったら、貧乏になる。
Wedingu doresu wo kattara, binbou ni naru.
If I buy a wedding dress, I’ll be broke.
Clause 1 → Clause 2
アメリカの大統領になったら、お金持ちになる。
Amerika no daitouryou ni nattara, o-kanemochi ni naru.
If I become the president of the United States, then I will be rich.
Clause 1 → Clause 2
But what if you think you need to be rich in order to be president? Then you have to use なら, since being rich has to happen before becoming president.
アメリカの大統領になるなら、(まず) お金持ちになる。
Amerika no daitouryou ni naru nara, (mazu) o-kanemochi ni naru.
If I become the president of the United States, then (first) I will get rich.
Clause 2 -> Clause 1
たら is similar to the て (te) form, which you use when you do one thing, then do another thing. You can learn about て in this video.
テレビを見て、寝た。
Terebi wo mite, neta.
I watched TV and then went to sleep.
テレビを見たら、寝た。
Terebi wo mi tara, neta.
I watched TV and went to sleep.
What’s the difference between the two sentences above? When you use て, the second event is not necessarily caused by the first one, so in the first sentence, you watched TV, then decided to sleep. When you use たら, the second event is caused by the first, so maybe the TV show was really boring, which caused you to fall asleep.
Let’s look at some more examples.
ドアを蹴ったら、足の骨が折れた。
Doa wo kettara, ashi no hone ga oreta.
When I kicked the door, my leg broke.
Maybe your doctor asks you when you broke your leg, and you want to focus on the fact that you kicked the door. In this case, you use とき.
ドアを蹴ったとき、足の骨が折れた。
Doa wo ketta toki, ashi no hone ga oreta.
WHEN I kicked the door, my leg broke.
ドアを蹴ったから、足の骨が折れた。
Doa wo ketta kara, ashi no hone ga oreta.
BECAUSE I kicked the door, my leg broke.
先生を殴ったら、退学になった。
Sensei wo naguttara, taigaku ni natta.
When I punched my teacher, I got expelled.
マリオはキノコをゲットしたら、大きくなった。
Mario wa kinoko wo getto shitara, ookikunatta.
When Mario got the mushroom, he got bigger.
Let’s try another example, this time combining たら with と言った (to itta), or “I said”.
Aと言った。(formal)
A to itta.
Aって言った。(informal)
A tte itta.
(I) said A.
“coke”の代わりに”cock”と言ったら、友達に笑われました。
“coke” no kawari ni “cock” to ittara, tomodachi ni warawaremashita.
When I said “cock” instead of “coke”, my friends laughed at me.
You can learn more about と言った (to itta) in this video, and the passive form in this video.
「座って」の代わりに「触って」と言ったら、友達に笑われた。
“Suwatte” no kawari ni “sawatte” to ittara, tomodachi ni warawareta.
When I said “Touch” instead of “Sit”, my friends laughed at me.
明日晴れたら、ピクニックをしよう。
Ashita hare tara, pikunikku wo shiyou.
If it’s sunny tomorrow, let’s have a picnic.
*In this case, you can’t use と because we specify that the picnic happens only tomorrow, and as you recall, と is used for things that always happen when something else happens.
Maybe you always have a picnic when it’s sunny. In that case, you can say:
晴れると、いつもピクニックをする。
Hareru to, itsumo pikunikku wo suru.
When(ever) it’s sunny, I always have a picnic.
Example Sentences
嘘をついたら、鼻が伸びるよ。
Uso wo tsui tara, hana ga nobiru yo.
If you lie, your nose will grow.
また嘘をついたら、許さない。
Mata uso wo tsui tara, yurusanai.
If you lie again, I won’t forgive you.
その人を殺したら、警察に電話する。
Sono hito wo koroshi tara, keisatsu ni denwa suru.
If you kill that person, I’ll call the police.
車を運転したら、事故を起こすと思う。
Kuruma wo unten shitara, jiko wo okosu to omou.
If I drove a car, I think I would cause an accident.
車を運転したら、事故を起こすと思うから、運転したくない。
Kuruma wo unten shitara, jiko wo okosu to omou kara, unten shitakunai.
I don’t want to drive because I think I’d cause an accident if I drove.
質問があったら、遠慮せず何でも聞いてください。
Shitsumon ga attara, enryo sezu nandemo kiite kudasai.
If you have a question, feel free to ask me anything.
お金があったら、何がしたいですか。
O-kane ga attara, nani ga shitai desu ka.
What would you like to do if you had money?
お金があったら、世界中を旅行する。
O-kane ga attara, sekaijuu wo ryokou suru.
If I had money, I’d travel around the world.
お金があったら、犬が飼いたい。
O-kane ga attara, inu ga kaitai.
If I had money, I want to raise a dog.
お金があったら、家が買いたい。
O-kane ga attara, ie ga kaitai.
If I had money, I want to buy a house.
*The words for “raise” (飼う) and “buy” (買う) sound the same, but they have different kanji.
お金があったら、日本に行きたい。
O-kane ga attara, nihon ni ikitai.
If I had money, I want to go to Japan.
時間があったら、もっと動画を作ります。
Jikan ga attara, motto douga wo tsukurimasu.
If I had more time, I’d make more videos.
彼女がいたら、このレストランに連れてくる。
Kanojo ga itara, kono resutoran ni tsurete kuru.
If I had a girlfriend, I’d bring her to this restaurant.
If you want to say “What if…”, you can use たらand どうする (dou suru).
〜たら、どうする？
〜tara, dou suru?
If〜, what would you do?
You can also remove どうする, and the listener will understand from the context.
失敗したら、どうする？
Shippai shitara, dou suru?
If I fail, what do I do?
失敗したら？
Shippai shitara?
What if I fail?
Using Nouns and Adjectives with たら
When you want to put a noun before たら、you need to use だったら(dattara) for informal speech, or でしたら(deshitara) for informal speech.
俺が実はスパイダーマンだったら、どうする？
Ore ga jitsu wa supaidaaman dattara, dou suru?
What if I’m actually Spider-Man?
For I-adjectives, you remove the い at the end and add かったら.
可愛い→可愛かったら
Kawaii→Kawaikattara
楽しい→楽しかったら
Tanoshii→Tanoshikattara
その映画が面白かったら、見る。
Sono eiga ga omoshirokattara, miru.
If the film is interesting, I’ll watch it.
暑かったら、窓を開けてください。
Atsukattara, mado wo akete kudasai.
If it’s hot, please open the window.
For NA-adjectives, add だったら, just like with nouns.
静か→静かだったら
Shizuka→Shizuka dattara
綺麗→綺麗だったら
Kirei→Kirei dattara
Using たら with Negative Forms
Next, we’ll learn how to use the negative forms to say “If it’s not”.
<verb> + なかったら
<verb> + nakattara
<I-adj> い + くなかったら
<I-adj> i + ku nakattara
<NA-adj> な + じゃなかったら
<NA-adj> na + ja nakattara
<noun> + じゃなかったら
<noun> + janakattara
行く→行かなかったら
iku →ikanakattara
to go → if I don’t go
私が行かなかったら、どうする？
Watashi ga ikanakattara, dou suru?
What if I don’t go?
間に合わなかったら、先に行ってね。
Ma ni awanakattara, saki ni itte ne.
If I don’t make it on time, go without me.
好きじゃなかったら、食べなくてもいい。
Suki ja nakattara, tabenakute mo ii.
If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.
That was a long lesson, but now you know how to use たら along with と and とき. Next time, we’ll go over なら, the last part of the “if” and “when” series. It’s confusing at first, but if you keep practicing, you’ll get the hang of it! (練習したら、慣れるよ！)
