noun
Grammatical term for a clause that depends on a main clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence.
「雨が降れば」は従属節で、主節の条件を表す。
"Ame ga fureba" is a subordinate clause expressing a condition for the main clause.
この文では、従属節が文頭に来ている。
In this sentence, the subordinate clause comes at the beginning.