# 直すとしたら



## Anatoli

I have a grammar question:

...さんの日本語はほとんど正しいです。

直す*としたら*:

...-san's Japanese is almost correct.

(I think the meaning is) But if I correct:


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## akimura

Hi,

"直すとしたら" or "直すとすれば" sounds perfectly okay to me.

I hope this helps


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## Anatoli

naosu - to correct
-to suru - try to(?)

So, "naosu-to shitara" is "If I try to correct?"

Thanks again, Akimura-san


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## akimura

Anatoli-san,

I am not a Japanese linguist so I could easily be wrong.  But I will try the best I could to answer your question as a native speaker of Japanese.

> naosu - to correct
This is correct 

> -to suru - try to(?)
I don't think it means "try to".  I quickly looked up a Japanese dictionary and "to" here seems to be functioning as "接続助詞", connecting the phrase "直す" and "したら".  "Suru" generally means simply "to do".

Now, things are getting difficult for me.  I don't have an answer from a linguistic perspective.  But now, ”と" and "したら" begin to sound to me like "that" and "Supposing" respectively, as in:

"Supposing that I correct, ..."

I wonder if the above makes sense to you...


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## akimura

Anatoli-san,

I looked up the dictionary further, and I found that "したら"　most likely originates from "したらば (outdated)" meaning "then" as in "If ...., then ...".  Or, I think it's safe to assume that "したら" functions as an if-then structure generator. 

So, direct word matching may go like:

直す = correct
と = (doesn't mean anything, just a functional word)
したら = then

And, in order to understand the meaning of "直すとしたら",you might as well add some English words as you like, and the resulting phrase should be an English translation that you have wanted throughout:

 (If I) *correct* (your almost correct Japanese sentense), *then* ...

I hope this helps better -


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## Anatoli

翻訳したありがとう。説明はそんなに重要じゃありません。

外の問題を答えていただきませんか。


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## Mugi

Anatoli said:


> naosu - to correct
> -to suru - try to(?)
> 
> So, "naosu-to shitara" is "If I try to correct?"


If I were to correct it/make corrections, ...


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## Anatoli

あ、分かった。どうも。


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## _forumuser_

Mugi said:


> If I were to correct it/make corrections, ...



Would "Were I to correct it ..." sound obsolete?


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## tkekte

What's the difference with "naoshitara"?


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## akimura

tkekte-san,

I had been too concerned about word-for-word translation.  I don't think that my previous translation "If I correct it, then ..." works well.  Mugi's "If I were to correct it/make corrections, ..." is perfect.

Becase I haven't come up with a good grammatical answer yet, I would write and post the following sample sentences:

Sample 1
あなたの日本語はほぼ正しいですが、
直すとしたら（直すとすれば）、「が」を「は」にするといいでしょう。
Your Japanese is almost correct.
If it were to be corrected, "ga" would better be replaced with "wa".

直したら is incorrect here.

Sample 2
あなたの日本語はほぼ正しいですが、
「が」を「は」に直したら（直せば）、もっとよくなるでしょう。
Your Japanese is almost correct, but if "ga" were replaced with "wa", it would be much better.

直すとしたら（直すとすれば） is also okay here.

Sample 3
あなたの日本語はほぼ正しいですが、
 「が」を「は」に直したらいかがでしょうか（直せばどうでしょうか）。
Your Japanese is almost correct, but how about replacing "ga" with "wa"?

直すとしたら（直すとすれば） is correct here gramatically, but English translation might go as follows:
  Your Japanese is almost correct, but if "ga" were to be replaced with "wa", how about it (how would you think about it)?

Someone more insightful about these phrases could explain much much better on this topic.  I still hope that these sample sentences will give you an idea about the differences between "直すとしたら" and "直したら".


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## Flaminius

Granted that 直すとしたら and a more formal 直すとすれば can express conditions, here they are used as preambles to the actual correction that is suggested.  In contrast, 直したら can be only used as a conditional.


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## tkekte

I see, I see... (actually I don't ) Is the difference about where the explanation of how to fix it is located relative to naosu?

naosu to shitara [fix_method] - how he would go about fixing it
"If I were to fix then I would do this and that"
Semantic focus is on the "how".

[fix_method] naoshitara [consequence] - what happens if the problem is fixed
"if you do this and that, then ..."
Semantic focus is on the "then".

Is that it? (Probably not even close. )


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## akimura

I think you are right, tkekte-san.  I am sorry to have made the issue look complicated...

So let me make additional observation to clear things up.  Let me give you two more examples.

Example A:
アメリカに*行くとしたら*、日本でまず英語を勉強するつもりです。
If I were to go to the US, I would study English in Japan first.

In this example, *行ったら* is incorrect.  The focus of the condition with *行ったら* is on *after* you go to the US.  Apparently, there is no way to "study English in Japan, in the US", right?

Example B:
アメリカに*行くとしたら*、ナイアガラの滝を訪れるつもりです。
If I were to go to the US, I would visit the Niagara Falls.
(I hope my English translation is correct.)

In this example, *行ったら* is also correct.  It is no doubt that you should have a chance to visit the Niagara Falls if you were in the US.

Getting back to Sample 1 in the above messages,

*直すとすれば*、「が」を「は」にしたほうがいいでしょう。
If it were to be corrected, it would be better to replace "ga" with "wa".
(I hope the English translation is correct.)

This Japanese sentence is correct.

But, 

*直したら*、「が」を「は」にしたほうがいいでしょう。
If it is corrected, then it would be better to replace "ga" with "wa".
(Again, I hope the English translation is correct.)

This usage of *直したら* is incorrect.  Once you made a correction, how could you make "the correction"?

The following example is correct:

*直したら*、鈴木教授のところにいきましょう。
If it is corrected, then let's go to Professor Suzuki.

I hope this answer makes much better sense


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## tkekte

Yes, I think it's becoming clearer now.  -to shitara for a hypothetic action, -tara for an action that's actually taking/took/will take place.

Or more literally, -to shitara ~ "if I make the choice to do X", -tara ~ "if/when/after I do X"

What would happen if "naoshitara" was changed to "naosu to shitara" in the prof. Suzuki example? If I'm understanding right, then in this case there would be a nuance of just trying vs actually fixing?


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## akimura

tkekte said:


> Or more literally, -to shitara ~ "if I make the choice to do X", -tara ~ "if/when/after I do X"



I would agree.  Now, I don't think that disparities between *直すとしたら* and *直したら* lead to the difference between the "If S were to V ..., then ... " and "If S are to V ..., then ..." structures, but context does. 

So, applying *直すとしたら* to the Prof. Suzuki example, it should go:

*直すとしたら*、鈴木教授のところに行きましょう。
If we are to make corrections, let's go to Professor Suzuki.

In this context, it indicates that the "*we*" are likely to visit Prof. Suzuki in order to make corrections with him or ask him to make corrections.

Meanwhile,

*直したら*、鈴木教授のところに行きましょう。
Once we make corrections, let's go to Professor Suzuki.
(I slightly changed the English translation from the above.)

this indicates that the "we" are likely to go to Prof. Suzuki after, and only after, the corrections are complete, and then Prof. Suzuki will probably review the corrections.


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