How to Say ‘If’ in Japanese – Learn From an Iconic Quote in Attack on Titan

はい、みなさんこんにちは。Welcome to Sakura Neko’s Japanese Study Room, where you can learn Japanese from anime quotes! Today’s topic is 進撃の巨人 (Shingeki No Kyojin: Attack on Titan).

勝てなきゃ…死ぬ…勝てば生きる…

katenakya … shinu … kateba ikiru

If I win, I live. If I lose, I die.

If you read this article, you will learn:

✅ The conditional form in Japanese using 「ば ba」

✅ Vocabulary in the quote

✅ Example sentences using the conditional form

Vocabulary

勝(か)つ: katsu = to win

勝(か)たない: katanai = not win

勝(か)てない: katenai = can not win

死(し)ぬ: shinu = to die

生(い)きる: ikiru = to live

Grammar point

This quote not only precisely expresses the ruthless world view of Attack on Titan, but also has a interesting Japanese grammar point: conditional!

There is a few conditional forms in Japanese, but today we will focus on the one that uses 「ば (ba)」. To make the conditional form, you will need to follow these steps:

1 – Change the last vowel of a Dictionary Form verb from ‘u’ to ‘e’

2 – Add 「ば」

Ex. 話はなす(hanasu)→話せば(hanaseba)　　食たべる(taberu)→食べれば(tabereba)　

Therefore, the second part of the quote is quite easy to understand:

勝かてば生いきる

kateba ikiru

If I win, I live.

The first part of the quote [勝かてなきゃ] involves the verb negative form of the conditional form (If I don’t do…). You can form a negative conditional verb by:

From a negative form verb, replace 「い」with 「ければ」(polite) or with 「きゃ」(casual)

Ex. 話はなささない→話さなければ　or　話さなきゃ

The negative form of 「勝かつ」is 「勝たない」, and 「勝てない」is the negative potential form (cannot win). Therefore, 「勝てなきゃ」in the quote means ’If I can’t win’.

This quote includes both positive and negative conditional forms.

勝てなきゃ…死ぬ…勝てば生きる…

katenakya … shinu … kateba ikiru

If I win, I live. If I lose, I die.

Example sentences

生きてれば何とかなる！

ikitereba nantoka naru

As long as we are alive, we will manage!

生いきてれば is a short for 生きていれば, which is a combination of 生きている (be living) and ば (ba). The literal translation would be ‘if we are living, we will manage’.

戦わなければ勝てない

tatakawanakereba katenai

If I don’t fight, I won’t win.

The negative form of 「戦う」is 「戦わない」. This is then followed by 「ければ」to form the negative conditional form.

Summary – まとめ

In summary, this article discussed the quote from進撃の巨人 (Shingeki No Kyojin: Attack on Titan), and how to say ‘if’ in Japanese! This should allow you to express lots of complex ideas in Japanese!

I hope you found this helpful! If you liked this post, make sure you check out other articles as well! You can also find more phrases from my twitter account. 

じゃあ、みなさんさようなら！