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Conditional Form |
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Drop the final -u from the plain form of the verb and add -eba. To form the negative, drop the -i from the negative plain form and add -kereba. With -i adjectives, drop the final -i and add -kereba; with negatives, drop the final -i from nai and add -kereba.
もしできれば、今年外国へ行たいんです。
Moshi dekireba, kotoshi gaikoku e ikitai n' desu.
If I can, I want to go abroad this year.
辞書を使わなければ、この日本語の宿題ができません。
Jisho o tsukawanakereba, kono Nihongo no shukudai ga dekimasen.
If I don't use a dictionary, I can't do this Japanese homework.
明日天気がよければ、どこかへ行ましょうか。
Ashita tenki ga yokereba, dokoka e ikimashou ka.
If the weather's nice tomorrow, shall we go somewhere?
高くなければ、買います。
Takaku nakereba, kaimasu.
If it's not too expensive, I'll buy it.
The expression -nakereba narimasen, where naru is the verb "to become", means literally "if you don't..., it's no good" or in other words "you must" or "you have to". The negative "don't have to ..." is expressed with -nakute mo ii desu.
自己紹介は日本語でなければなりません。
Jiko shoukai wa Nihongo de nakereba narimasen.
Your self-introduction must be in Japanese.
今日終らなくてもいいです。
Kyou owaranakute mo ii desu.
You don't have to finish it today.
This page is a part of "Some Notes on
Japanese Grammar" published for your personal use, with the kind
permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)
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