N4 · UNIT 6

If & When I

Japanese conditionals, part one, たら for "if/when," と for the clockwork consequences, ても for "even if," and 時 to hang any clause on a moment.

About this unit

Plans meet reality in this unit. たら handles the biggest share of English if and when in one form; と states what happens every time, like a law of nature; ても shrugs, even if. Together with 時-clauses, they cover most of the conditional thinking you do in a day. The stage is Japan's best one for contingency planning: a summer festival that moves to Sunday if the rain comes.

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

1

Read the words

Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.

WordReadingMeaning
festival
summer festival
fireworks
yukata (light summer kimono)
kimono
to wear; to put on (upper body)
festival food stall
shaved ice
festival mask
to begin (intransitive)
to begin (transitive)
to end
the end
to open (intransitive)
to close (intransitive)
to stop (moving)
to move
suddenly
soon; any minute
about time to
to be crowded
to be uncrowded; empty
crowd (of people)
fireworks festival
sound
light
night sky
taiko drum
bon dance
season
rainy season
gradually
finally; at last
to enjoy
to line up
paper lantern
2

Learn the kanji

The 10 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.

summer
autumn
winter
fire
open
begin
end
stop
move
hurry; sudden
3

Read it in context

Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.

Show English

A summer festival is coming to the neighborhood shrine, fireworks included, weather permitting. Yuki has yukata logistics covered; Mr. Tanaka knows where to stand.

ゆき
Maria, wanna go to the summer festival this Saturday?
マリア
I'd love to! What time does it start?
ゆき
It starts around five and ends around nine. At night there are fireworks, too!
マリア
Fireworks! I've never seen Japanese fireworks. Can't wait!
たなか
But what happens if it rains?
ゆき
If it rains, the festival moves to Sunday.
マリア
Oh, I see. Um... I've been wanting to try wearing a yukata...
ゆき
Then I'll lend you mine! Come over Saturday and we'll put them on together.
たなか
After the festival, if you go straight down this road, there's a river. The fireworks look amazing from there.
マリア
(Saturday, at the festival) Wow, so many people! Oh, that stall is selling takoyaki!
ゆき
If you want some, let's go buy it! Better line up before the fireworks start.
Notice: たら does double duty, 雨がふったら is IF it rains, but 家に来たら is simply WHEN you come over. Japanese doesn't force you to choose. And Tanaka's まっすぐ行くと、川があります is と at work: not a prediction, a certainty, go straight and the river is just there.
Stop, learn the vocabulary before the grammar

These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.

  1. Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit6-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
  2. Learn all 36 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
  3. Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
  4. Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.
Anki open with AnkiConnect? I can confirm the deck for you.

Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.

文法 · Grammar 4 patterns

Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.

Quick suggestion: write these patterns down by hand as you read them. It is the one habit that textbook learners and self-taught immersion learners both swear by, and a notebook is the cheapest memory upgrade there is. Not required, just recommended.
The workhorse conditional: past-plain + ら. ふったら, 来たら, 安かったら, 休みだったら. Covers both "if" (uncertain) and "when" (just not yet): 雨がふったら中止 / 家に着いたら電話します.
If it rains, the festival moves to Sunday.
Call me when you get home.
Note: Everything conjugates into たら the same way: verbs (行ったら), い-adjectives (高かったら), な-adjectives and nouns (ひまだったら, 雨だったら). One rule, the whole language, it's why たら is the conditional to reach for first.
The clockwork conditional: plain non-past + と. Whenever X, Y follows, automatically, naturally, every time. Machines, directions, and laws of nature speak in と.
Press this button and the door opens.
Go straight down this road and there's a river.
Note: Because と states automatic results, the second half can't be a request, invitation, or intention, ボタンをおすと、ください is impossible. For those, use たら. Also spring's law of nature: はるになると、花がさきます.
Even if: て-form + も. 雨がふっても行きます, rain or not, I'm going. Adjectives too: 高くても買います, ひまでも行きません.
Even if it rains, the fireworks are on.
Even if it's expensive, I want that yukata.
Note: You've met this shape: てもいいですか (Unit N5-9) is literally “even if I do it, is it good?” Question words + ても = no matter: いくら食べても (no matter how much I eat), だれが来ても (no matter who comes).
Hang a clause on a moment: plain form + 時. 子どもの時 (when I was a kid), ひまな時 (when free), 日本へ行く時 (when going), 日本へ行った時 (when I was there, after arriving).
When I was a kid, I often swam in this river.
When you don't understand, ask.
Note: Tense inside the 時-clause is relative: 行く時 = on the way / before arriving; 行った時 = once there. 日本へ行く時、カメラを買いました (bought it before the trip) vs 行った時 (bought it in Japan).

文化 · Culture note

A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.

Summer Is a Festival

When the rainy season lifts in July, Japan's summer begins its real calendar: the festival one. Every shrine, park, and riverbank hosts a まつり, food stalls (やたい) selling takoyaki and かきごおり shaved ice, goldfish-scooping games, taiko drums, and neighborhoods dancing the ぼんおどり in concentric circles. Nobody needs an invitation; the whole point is that everyone comes.

The crown jewels are the 花火大会, fireworks festivals on a scale that resets your definition of the word. Major shows launch tens of thousands of shells over rivers and bays while hundreds of thousands watch from picnic sheets staked out since morning. Crowds answer the best bursts in unison, たまや〜！, a cheer whose Edo-period origins (a famous fireworks house) most shouters neither know nor need.

And summer festivals are when ordinary people wear traditional clothes without ceremony. The ゆかた, a light cotton kimono, comes out of closets nationwide; convenience stores sell pre-tied obi, and friends dress each other like Yuki offers to. If you're ever invited to a festival in Japan, say yes to the yukata. It's not a costume; it's summer's uniform, and wearing one is the fastest way to stop being a spectator.

Try it: Learn the festival call-and-response of your first fireworks show: when the crowd goes たまや〜, join in. Ritual participation beats grammatical perfection for belonging, and nobody checks your conjugation mid-firework.

生教材 · Immersion 3 assignments · real Japanese, on rails

This week in the wild

Conditionals run every recipe, forecast, and machine in Japan, the language of "if this, then that" is everywhere consequences are. This week you listen for the logic.

You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

Conditionals are where speaking starts feeling like thinking, you're chaining ideas, not reciting lines. Ghost the dialogue rhythms, then build the prompts; every answer is a two-part sentence, so breathe at the comma.

Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.

If it rains, the festival moves to Sunday.
Go straight down this road and there's a river.
Call me when you get home.
Even if it rains, the fireworks are on.
Say it in Japanese: If it's cheap, I'll buy it.
Hint: い-adjective conditional, 安かった + ら.
Say it in Japanese: When spring comes, the flowers bloom.
Hint: A law of nature, と.
Say it in Japanese: If you have time, shall we go see a movie?
Hint: たら + an invitation, と can't do this.
Say it in Japanese: When I was a kid, I wanted a dog.
Hint: Noun + の + 時.

Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.

練習 · Worksheet 8 exercises

Type each missing word in hiragana, then check your answers.

Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.

Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT

Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit