Adjectives + たら

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” - Will Durant

For this page, we’re going to start with い-adjectives because they are treated very similarly to verbs. い-adjectives have a た-form just like verbs do.

たかい　→　たかかった

おもしろい　→　おもしろかった

たのしい　→　たのしかった

Just like verbs, たら form only involves adding a ら to the end to make it “if it’s _______.”

aたかかったら　＝　If it’s tall

aおもしろかったら　＝　If it’s interesting

aたのしかったら　＝　If it’s fun

Also like verbs, the pattern is [if it's _____] + [then something else].

aたかかったら　にげます
If (he’s) tall, I will run away

aおもしろかったら　本　を　よみます
If it’s interesting I’ll read the book

aたのしかったら　シカゴ　に　いきます
If it’s fun I will go to Chicago

It’s essentially an if/then statement, but now we’re using adjectives.

With な adjectives, things are only a little bit different. What’s the “た-form” of な-adjectives? For verbs and い-adjectives た form is “casual past tense” and it’s no different for な adjectives as well. So, all we have to do is figure out what casual past tense is for な adjectives (which you should know about already) and then you should be good to go.

aしずか　だった　＝　It was quiet

aべんり　だった　＝　It was convenient

aきれい　だった　＝　It was pretty

Now, if you follow all the rules and patterns from the last two things (verbs and い adjectives) how would you turn these into たら form?

aしずか　だった　tara? →

aべんり　だった　tara? →

aきれい　だった　tara? →

We can take these sentences and turn them into If/Then statements just like before.

aしずか　だったら　ひるね　する
If it’s quiet, I will take a nap

aべんり　だったら　いきます
If it’s  convenient, I will go

aひとみさん　は　きれい　だったら　つきあいます
If Hitomi is pretty, I will go out with her

So, to sum things up (so far):

Verbs: た　→　たら

い-Adjectives: 〜かった　→　かったら

な-Adjectives: 〜だった　→　だったら

The last thing we’ll be looking at is nouns, which are pretty much exactly the same as な-adjectives. Just make sure you know how to make な adjectives into たら form and the next page will be a breeze.

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