〜なら

About

なら, or ならば, is a conditional marker that attaches to the casual form of a verb or い-adjective, as well as directly to nouns and な-adjectives. なら is used to make hypothetical statements, as well as to indicate a topic.

E.g. ハイキングに行いくなら、私わたしもいきたい。 "If you're going hiking, I want to go too."

E.g. ラーメンなら、良いい店みせを知しっているよ！ "If it's ramen (you're thinking of eating), I know a good place!"

When used as a conditional marker, なら can't be used to indicate things that are certain to happen. What's more, なら can only be used in the past tense to mark hypothetical situations that did not actually occur.

Summary

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  なら is a conditional marker

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  なら can make hypothetical statements, or mark a topic

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  なら can only be used in situations where there is an uncertain outcome