Learn Hardcore Japanese: namahousou nara kintyou mo ookii hazu desu ga, zyoyuutati ha saigo made egao de engi wo tudukete imasita. - In a live broadcast the nerves must be intense, but the actresses kept acting with smiles until the end.

This isn’t a hypothetical “maybe live, maybe not” kind of if. It’s more like the speaker is talking about a situation type: “in live broadcasts (as a situation), you’d expect a lot of nervousness.”

Why is it 緊張も大きい and not something like 緊張が高い? What does も do here?

Two points: the adjective 大きい and the particle も.

大きい with abstract nouns

Japanese often uses 大きい with abstract nouns to mean “great / significant / intense,” e.g.:

影響が大きい – the impact is big / significant
不安が大きい – the anxiety is great
被害が大きい – the damage is large

In the same way, 緊張が大きい means “the nervousness is great / intense.”
Using 高い (緊張が高い) is not natural here. You might see 緊張が強い (strong tension), but 大きい is a very common choice.

も after 緊張

も often adds the nuance of “also / even” or emphasis.

Here, 緊張も大きい can suggest something like:

The nervousness too would be great (on top of other pressures).
Even the nervousness would be great.

It often connects to some earlier context (maybe other difficulties have been mentioned), and then も picks up 緊張 as “that too.”

What does はずです add to the meaning? How is it different from saying 緊張も大きいでしょう?

はずです expresses the speaker’s logical expectation based on what they know. It’s like saying:

It should be…
It’s supposed to be… (given what we know / generally speaking).

So 緊張も大きいはずです means:

The nervousness should be great (it stands to reason).

If you say 緊張も大きいでしょう, it’s more of a guess / conjecture:

The nervousness is probably great, I suppose.

Both are guesses, but:

はずです = “I have clear reasons to believe this; it logically follows.”
でしょう = “I think / I imagine so,” a bit looser, more tentative.

In this sentence, はずです fits because the speaker is reasoning: In live broadcasts, nervousness must be big.

Why is it はずです (present) and not はずでした (past), even though the whole situation seems to be in the past?

はずです here describes a general expectation about the situation type, not a one-time past judgment.

生放送なら緊張も大きいはずです
→ When it’s live, one would expect the nervousness to be great.

This is like a timeless statement about how things generally are in live broadcasts. For that kind of general truth or regular expectation, Japanese often uses the non-past form.

If you said:

生放送だったので、緊張も大きいはずでした。

that would sound more like: Since it was live, the nervousness should have been great (in that particular case). That’s a different nuance—more focused on evaluating that specific past event, not the general pattern.

What is the role of が after です: …はずですが、女優たちは…? Is it just but?

Yes, this が is a conjunction meaning roughly “but / although / however.”

Structure:

生放送なら緊張も大きいはずですが、 → The nervousness should be great in a live broadcast, but…
女優たちは…続けていました。 → the actresses… continued acting…

So the first part states a reasonable expectation (they’d be very nervous), and が introduces a contrast: despite that, they were smiling and kept acting.

Compared to けど:

が here is slightly more formal / written.
けど is more casual / conversational.

Why is it 女優たち with たち? Isn’t 女優 already “actress / actresses”?

In Japanese, a bare noun like 女優 can indeed be singular or plural, depending on context.

Adding たち:

Makes the plurality explicit: “actresses” (a group)
Slightly emphasizes them as a group of people rather than a role in the abstract

So:

女優 – could mean “an actress” or “actresses” in general
女優たち – clearly “the actresses (these specific women here)”

In this sentence, 女優たち suggests we’re talking about several specific actresses who were in that live broadcast.

Why is it 女優たちは and not 女優たちが?

は marks the topic, while が marks the subject (often introducing new information).

Here, we have a contrastive structure:

生放送なら緊張も大きいはずですが、
→ You’d expect a lot of nervousness in a live broadcast, but…
女優たちは最後まで笑顔で演技を続けていました。
→ as for the actresses, they kept acting with smiles until the end.

Using は:

Shifts the topic to “the actresses”
Highlights a contrast between the general expectation (they should be very nervous) and what the actresses actually did (smiled and kept acting)

If you used 女優たちが, it would be grammatically fine, but you’d lose some of that “as for the actresses (contrary to expectations)” feeling. は strongly supports the contrast created by が in the previous clause.

What does 最後まで mean exactly, and what is it modifying?

最後まで literally is:

最後 – end, last
まで – until

So together: “until the end / all the way to the end.”

In 女優たちは最後まで笑顔で演技を続けていました, the phrase 最後まで modifies the whole action of “continuing to act with smiles.” The idea is:

They kept up that smiling performance all the way through, until the very end of whatever event or broadcast is being described.

So it’s not just “they smiled at the end,” but “from earlier on, right through to the end, they kept acting with smiles.”

How does 笑顔で work here? Why で and not, say, 笑顔に?

笑顔で uses で to mark a state / manner:

笑顔 – a smiling face / smile
で – in/with the state of…

So 笑顔で演技を続けていました means:

They continued acting *with smiles / smiling.*

This use of で is common to describe the appearance, condition, or manner in which something is done:

スーツで会社に行く – go to work in a suit
元気でいる – be healthy / lively

If you used 笑顔に, it would sound like a change of state:

笑顔になる – to become smiling / to begin smiling

But here we want the manner in which they were acting, so 笑顔で (“in a smile / with smiles”) is the correct choice.

Why is it 演技を続けていました and not 演技を続けました?

続けていました is ている + past tense, so it emphasizes an ongoing action at that time:

続けていました – were continuing / kept on doing (over a period)

Nuance:

演技を続けていました
→ They were in the middle of continuing their acting; they kept acting (over a duration).

If you said:

演技を続けました

it would be a simple completed past: they continued acting (and that’s all I’m saying).

Both can be correct, but 続けていました gives a stronger “ongoing process” feel—matching the idea that, despite the tension of a live broadcast, they kept on acting with smiles throughout the show.

Could I say 生放送なら緊張も大きいはずだが、女優たちは… instead? What’s the difference from はずですが?

Grammatically, …はずだが is fine. The difference is mainly politeness / style:

はずですが、…続けていました。
→ Polite です／ます style, suitable for news, essays, formal narration.
はずだが、…続けていた。
→ Plain / non-polite style, more typical in novels, casual writing, or between friends.

In your original sentence, the second half is:

続けていました (polite)

So using はずですが keeps the politeness level consistent.
If you switched to はずだが, you would normally also change the second half to plain form (続けていた) to match.