Thursday, February 1, 2018

Does もあれば have set phrases?


I came across a sentence using もあれば where there wasn't a conditional. あれば got translated as sometimes:



名詞から動詞が派生していることもあれば、その逆のこともある
Sometimes a verb is derived from a noun and sometimes it is the other way around.



Looking for more examples, I saw some more sentences with this "sometimes this, sometimes that" pattern. I basically understand how to construct a sentence with this pattern, but I also found some where I couldn't' tell what もあれば was doing:




京都から高野山までは、3時間もあれば行ける距離です。
Kyoto is about 3 hours distance from Mt. Koya

10分もあれば支度できます。
It only takes me 10 minutes to get ready



What is もあれば's function in the last two examples?



Answer



is conditional just as in the first example. in these cases means something like 'as less as'. The literal translations are respectively (Don't expect that they are grammatical or natural in English):



(The distance) from Kyoto to Koyasan is such that, if you have as less as three hours, you can get there.


If I have as less as ten minutes, I can get ready.




By the way, although I know that it is not only the responsibility of the English speaking people, I feel it unnatural when people write something like Mt. Koyasan. It is as strange as saying Mt. Mont Blanc, salsa sauce, Volkswagen car, etc.


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