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mondai ga sinkoku nara, hayaku taisaku wo kangaemasu.

問題もんだい　が　深刻しんこく　なら、　早はやく　対策たいさく　を　考かんがえます。mondai ga sinkoku nara, hayaku taisaku wo kangaemasu.
If the problem is serious, I will think of measures quickly.
FromLesson 19inHardcore Japanese

Questions & Answers about mondai ga sinkoku nara, hayaku taisaku wo kangaemasu.

What is the function of が in 問題が深刻なら?
が marks the grammatical subject of the clause. In 問題が深刻なら, it tells us that 問題 (the problem) is what “is serious.”
Why is there no だ or です after 深刻?
深刻 is a na-adjective. When you attach the conditional なら directly to a na-adjective, you drop the copula (だ/です) and use 深刻なら to mean “if (it) is serious.” In a plain statement you’d say 深刻だ or 深刻です, but for this conditional form you just use 深刻なら.
What kind of conditional is なら, and how does it differ from たら or と?

なら is the “nara” conditional, often translated as “if” or “in the case that.”

  • たら (e.g. 深刻だったら) is a neutral “if/when” after an event or state is realized.
  • と (e.g. 深刻だと) suggests a general or inevitable result whenever the condition is met.
  • なら can carry a nuance of “given that…” or “assuming that…,” and is frequently used when giving advice or suggestions based on a condition.
Why is 早く used instead of 早い?
To modify a verb (考えます), you need an adverb, not an adjective. 早い is an i-adjective (“early/fast”), so you convert it to its adverbial form by replacing い with く, resulting in 早く (“quickly/soon”).
What does 対策を考えます literally mean, and why is the particle を used here?

対策を考えます literally means “think of (a) countermeasure(s).”

  • 対策 (“countermeasure” or “measure”) is the direct object of the verb 考える (“to think/consider”).
  • The particle を marks that direct object, indicating what exactly you’re thinking about.
Why is the subject missing in the second clause (考えます)? Who is doing the thinking?
In Japanese, once the subject is clear from context, it’s often omitted to avoid repetition. Here the implied subject is “I” (or “we”), so you don’t need to repeat 私は before 考えます.
Could we use たら instead of なら here? What difference would that make?

Yes. 問題が深刻だったら、早く対策を考えます。

  • With たら, it’s a straightforward “if/when the problem turns out to be serious.”
  • The difference is subtle: なら can feel like “in the case that you say it’s serious,” whereas たら is more purely hypothetical. In everyday speech they’re often interchangeable in this kind of sentence.
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“How do verb conjugations work in Japanese?”
Japanese verbs conjugate based on tense, politeness, and mood. For example, the polite present form adds ‑ます to the verb stem, while the past tense uses ‑ました. Unlike English, Japanese verbs don't change based on the subject — the same form works for "I", "you", and "they".

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