ば details
Examples
if — a condition presented as sufficient for the result, stated like a rule
この道をまっすぐ行けば、駅に出ます。
kono michi o massugu ikeba, eki ni demasu.
If you go straight down this road, you will come out at the station. neutral
安ければ買うんだけどなあ。
yasukereba kau n da kedo naa.
I'd buy it if it were cheap. casual
書類がそろっていれば、その場で手続きができます。
shorui ga sorotte ireba, sono ba de tetsuzuki ga dekimasu.
Provided your documents are in order, the procedure can be completed on the spot. formal
Formation
V conditional ば-form (いけば・たべれば・すれば)attaches to ば conditional stemi-adj stem + ければ (やすければ)attaches to i-adjective
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
ば suits lawlike, repeatable conditions and leans written; たら is the spoken all-rounder and the only one comfortable with one-off sequences — 着いたら電話して cannot become ×着けば電話して.
と states an automatic, exceptionless consequence — machines, routes, habits — and bars commands, requests, and invitations from its main clause outright; ば shades hypothetical and hosts them freely when its own clause is stative (時間があれば来てください).
Lookalikes
The same ば opening misleads — ば opens a live condition whose outcome is still undecided, while ばよかった is a frozen backward-looking idiom that admits no result clause after it.