Verbs + たら

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion.” - Chinese Proverb

Verbs+たら are the easiest to handle, I think, because you just learned た-form verbs (so you get to practice). So, to be able to get through this lesson, you don’t need be perfect or automatic with your た-form, but you at least need to be able to do た-form (even if there’s a bit of struggles going on).

Let’s start with た-form first, and work our way into たら.

aたべた　＝　Ate

aのんだ　＝　Drank

aにげた　＝　Escaped / Ran Away

Those are た-form verbs. Casual, past tense, and nice and straight forward. Here’s what たら form looks like, using the same verbs:

aたべたら　＝　If (someone) eats

aのんだら　＝　If (someone) drinks

aにげたら　＝　If (someone) runs away

All you need to do is take た-form, then add a ら to the end of it. In the example of のんだ→のんだら, you keep the だ sound (so, it’s technically not always たら, sometimes it’s だら, though it all means the same thing).

Now let’s add a little more to these sentences. It’s hard to say “If (someone) eats” – we should add that “someone” or “something” to the mix.

aすし　を　たべた　＝　I ate sushi

aビール　を　のんだ　＝　I drank beer

Hopefully you’re still on the same page, this is just stuff from the last chapter. Now let’s make these たら. Remember how to do that? Just add a ら to the end. You try:

aすし　を　たべた　たら Form →

aビール　を　のんだ　たら Form →

Notice how these become present tense and not past tense, as it would be in た-form? That’s because the end of the sentence decides whether or not this is past or present tense. Generally, though, it’s going to be present/future tense. We’ll learn both, of course, but for now let’s assume things are present/future.

So, that’s only half the sentence. Basically, you’re going:

[Statement about something] + たら

[すし　を　たべ] + たら

In English, you start with “if.” In Japanese, the “if” comes after the thing you’re “iffing.”

aねこ　を　みたら
Literally: “Cat see if” (translation: If I/you see a cat…)

aゲーム　を　かったら
Literally: “game buy if” (translation: If I/you buy a game…)

Anyways, so right now all you need to know is how to start the “if” sentence. I want you to create five similar sentences to the above one, just to practice. Then, on the next page you’ll do the second half of the sentence, which is the blank part in “If you eat sushi ___________.”

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