Fun with Japanese – Beginner

The first time I came to Japan, I had been studying Japanese for less than a year. I couldn’t speak at all and only knew the more polite verb endings (ですます体 desumasu-tai).

I wanted to go out with some fellow students and I was trying to tell my host family that if I miss the last train I would stay with at a fellow student’s house. That’s when I hit a stumbling block. I didn’t know how to say if. I know now what I wanted to say to my host mother was

もし終電を間に合わなかったら、友達の家で寝ます。
もし　しゅうでん　を　まにあわなかったら、ともだち　の　いえ　で　ねます。
moshi shuuden wo maniawanakattara, tomodachi no ie de nemasu.

The first thing that’s handy in this sentence is the phrase

間に合う　まにあう maniau. It means to be in time for. In this case we want to be in time for the 終電　しゅうでん　shuuden or the last train. You can use this for anything, and is a handy phrase all by itself.

The part that we are really interested though is in the もし〜たら moshi~tara, which means if. If you are in a hurry, you can leave off the もし part without any worries, but I think it’s more “proper” to have it.

We can use any verb, adjective, or noun to say if. The basic rule is use the past-tense plain (dictionary form (jisho-kei)) of the verb and add ら ra. na-adjectives/Nouns use the copula だ

A few examples to give you a better idea:
i-adjective
もし試験は難しかったら、先生に聞きなさい。
もし　しけん　は　むずかしかったら、せんせい　に　ききなさい。
moshi shiken ha muzukashikattara, sensei ni kikinasai.
If the test is difficult, please ask your teacher for help.

noun
もしそれはビールだったら、飲みます。
もし　それ　は　ビール　だったら　のみます。
moshi sore ha biiru dattara nomimasu
If that is a beer, I’ll drink it.

verb
もし白い鞄があったら、買います。
もし　しろい　かばん　が　あったら、かいます。
moshi shiori kaban ga attara, kaimasu.
If the bag is white, I will buy it.

There are other ways to say if, but this is a good general purpose “if”.

これは役に立ったら、また書きつづきます。
これ　は　やく　に　たったら、　また　かきつづきます。
kore ha yaku ni tattara, mata kakituzukimasu.
If you find these useful, I will continue to write them.