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JLPT N5Conditionals

もし— The Hypothetical Marker

An optional adverb placed at the START of a sentence to signal that a hypothetical 'if' is coming. The actual conditional grammar (たら/ば/と/なら) still appears at the end of the clause.

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Pro lessonUNIT 41 · CONDITIONALS

Structure · 形

もし + [Condition + たら／ば／と／なら] + [Result]

Examples · 例文

  • もし雨が降ったら、行きません。

    Moshi ame ga futtara, ikimasen.

    If it rains, I won't go.

    もし (hypothetical signal) + 雨が降ったら (if it rains, たら-conditional) + 行きません.

  • もし時間があったら、遊びに来てください。

    Moshi jikan ga attara, asobi ni kite kudasai.

    If you have time, please come over.

    もし (hypothetical signal) + 時間があったら (if you have time, たら-conditional) + 来てください.

  • もし明日晴れたら、山へ行きましょう。

    Moshi ashita haretara, yama e ikimashou.

    If it's sunny tomorrow, let's go to the mountains.

    もし announces the 'if'; 晴れたら (if it clears up) carries the actual conditional grammar.

Usage notes · 注意

  • Optional: You can drop もし and the たら still means 'if'. もし simply warns the listener early that a hypothetical is coming.
  • もし pairs with a conditional ending; it does not replace it.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones もし is tested against.

vsたら／ば／と／なら

Those are the actual conditional verb forms doing the grammatical work; もし is just an optional front-of-sentence flag that can accompany any of them.

vsもしも

もしも is a more emphatic/literary version of もし, stressing an even more remote or dramatic hypothetical.

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