Renshuu.org - Study Japanese Online

On meaning 1, I think the top one is supposed to say "[Adjective: た form] A + ら" but it doesn't. What I see is: "[] A + ら". When I click to see examples, I see adjectives.

Fixed, thanks!

1. The third basic usage type When A, after A, then B--says the second clause is in non past form. But the third example sentence has the second clause in past form.

2. Another note: What about the meaning where, When A happened, surprisingly B happened. Like: 家に帰ったら、田中さんが着ていました。When I came home, Mr. Tanaka was there (unexpectedly). I mention this usage, but I also have a few questions about it: How often is this type of ‾ たらused in reality? And how can you tell if someone means this unexpected event as opposed to two events that occurred in succession in the past? I would love some light shed on this topic.

3. One more way to use ~たらis to refer to improbable things happening. Like もし有名人になったら、V-non past. If I become famous, I'll do V. Similarly, you can say しっぱいだったら、良い成績を上げなかった。If I had made a blunder, I wouldn't have gotten a good grade, implying that I did get a good grade.

1. Fixed to non-past, thanks.

2. I'll ask about this if I get a chance!

3. Do you think this is (the 'improbable' bit) actually a different meaning, a more an extension of the 'if/then' formation? I'll have to ask a friend, but I'm guessing that you could probably use it to represent something that is probable as well. I'm looking at the entry in the Basic Grammar Dictionary (the big, huge grammar dictionaries you can find just about everywhere), and it makes no reference to this 'usage'.

So, I feel like this is more just an example of how an if/then or action1->action2 structure can be extended. What do you think?

3. そうですね… Okay, I think I agree with you now that these "usages" are really just extensions of the same usage. We have model sentences to show how different situations/ideas can be conveyed. Thanks!

Edit:
I was just looking over my old notes and found something. The past tense usage of ‾たら always means a surprise situation. Is this really true? 例えば、
Verb A-tara + Verb B-ta (past tense) = surprise situation!
家に帰ったら、友達と一緒に映画を見に行った。X
You can't say this because it couldn't have been a surprise situation. Do you see what I mean? I have this rule in my notes distinctly.. Can anyone confirm this?

な-adjective: た form+ら

Is this not supposed to be な-adjective+ だった +ら?

Technically, it was correct (た means past, casual form, so だった), but I agree that it could be cleared, so I've switched it up. Thanks!!

Sorry for bothering again, but what's the difference between the 3rd and 4th usage? And something else, is なら and たら the same? What's the difference?

One is a series of events that may or may not be cause-effect related, while one shows a cause-effect relationship.

As to なら/たら, I'll have to leave someone else to answering that - I have a very fuzzy understanding of it from soaking it up from those around me - someone that knows it on a more technical side will be better at explaining it.

could you possibly use this version of the "if" when saying something along the lines of

If i did it, i didnt meant to? in that sense of well if it happened blah blah blah
もしやったら、つもりじゃなかったよ