Learn Hardcore Japanese: tenin ni kiitara, sono iyahon ha ima zaiko ga nai node, toriyose ni naru to iwareta. - When I asked the clerk, I was told that those earphones were out of stock, so they would have to be ordered in.

Word

店員てにん　に　聞きいたら、　その　イヤホン　は　今いま　在庫ざいこ　が　ない　ので、　取とり寄よせ　に　なる　と　言いわれた。tenin ni kiitara, sono iyahon wa ima zaiko ga nai node, toriyose ni naru to iwareta.

Meaning

When I asked the clerk, I was told that those earphones were out of stock, so they would have to be ordered in.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of tenin ni kiitara, sono iyahon wa ima zaiko ga nai node, toriyose ni naru to iwareta.

What does 店員に聞いたら mean here? Is たら “if” or “when”?

Here 聞いたら means when I asked or after I asked.

聞く = to ask / to inquire / to hear, depending on context
聞いた = past form
〜たら can mean if, but it also very often means when or after when talking about something that actually happened

So in this sentence, 店員に聞いたら is not hypothetical. It means the speaker really did ask the clerk, and then got the following response.

Why is there に after 店員?

Because 店員 is the person the speaker asked.

With 聞く meaning to ask, the person you ask is commonly marked by に:

So:

Why is it そのイヤホンは but 在庫がない? Why both は and が?