if ... then; when
Attaches to the conditional stem of verbs, adjectives, and the copula. Expresses a general conditional or temporal relationship: 'if/when X, then Y'.
雨が降れば、試合は中止です。
If it rains, the game will be canceled.
春になれば、桜が咲きます。
When spring comes, the cherry blossoms bloom.
and; both ... and ...
Used in the pattern ...も...ば...も... to list parallel items or qualities, often with a nuance of 'not only ... but also ...' or simply 'both ... and ...'.
彼は英語も話せれば、中国語も話せる。
He can speak both English and Chinese.
why don't you ...?
Sentence-final use, often with a rising intonation, to make a suggestion or invitation. Equivalent to ～たらどうですか, but softer and more indirect.
もう少し早く起きれば？
Why don't you get up a little earlier?
一緒に行けば？
Why don't we go together?
the more ... the more ...
Used in the pattern ...ば...ほど to express a proportional relationship: 'the more X, the more Y'.
考えれば考えるほど、分からなくなる。
The more I think about it, the less I understand.
練
Archaic causal use, now largely replaced by から or ので. Found in classical Japanese and occasionally in formal or literary contexts.
There are subjects I'm good at, and subjects I'm not.
この店は値段も安ければ、味も良い。
This restaurant is both cheap and delicious.
The more you practice, the better you get.
People long ago said, 'Since spring comes, flowers bloom.'
The more you practice, the better you get.
Why don't you rest a little?
と expresses a natural or inevitable result (often factual or habitual), whereas ば can express purely hypothetical or general conditions.
なら is used when accepting the listener's premise as true or giving advice based on it, while ば states a more neutral, general condition.
Kana-only particle; no kanji form exists.
An inherited conditional particle attested in Old Japanese. In classical grammar it followed the realis form for established conditions and the irrealis form for hypothetical conditions, patterns underlying its modern uses.