〜たら
Meanings
- when / if (event-triggered consequent)
- after (temporal)
Nuance
たら is the most flexible of the four conditionals — it covers both hypothetical if and temporal when, and uniquely allows intention / command / request / invitation in the consequent clause.
家に着いたら、電話する — "When I get home, I'll call." This is a temporal-when reading: the speaker is announcing the intended sequence. Try this with と and it sounds wrong (と would suggest "calling" is a natural consequence of arriving, like a reflex); try it with ば and it sounds stiff. たら fits naturally.
Hypothetical use: もし時間があったら、行く — "If I have time, I'll go." The optional もし ("if perchance") makes the hypothetical reading explicit.
Formation: take the た-form of the verb and add ら. 行く → 行ったら, 食べる → 食べたら. For adjectives: 寒い → 寒かったら, 静か → 静かだったら.
A past-tense たら in the result clause produces the "happened-to-find-out" reading: 家に帰ったら、誰もいなかった — "When I got home, no one was there" (and I discovered this unexpectedly). This is one of the most natural ways to express discovery in Japanese.
Examples
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家に着いたら、電話します。いえについたら、でんわします。When I get home, I'll call.
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時間があったら、行きます。じかんがあったら、いきます。If I have time, I'll go.
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家に帰ったら、誰もいなかった。いえにかえったら、だれもいなかった。When I got home, no one was there.