“When it Comes to…” II: となると, となったら, & となれば
All three of these phrases share certain commonalities. When the speaker knows/hears of a certain situation, the speaker feels, as an effect of that circumstance, that something important has to be noted. What is duly noted typically involves some sort of idea, decision, or reference to common knowledge.
～となると: When it comes to…/if it were to come to…
～となると is used to make assertions involving the speaker’s notion, idea, decision, or reference to common knowledge regarding a certain situation. This situation involves some form of change, whether it be literal or simply one’s change in perception. There is always some sort of contrast implied. The use of the particle と versus the other conditional particles provides a rather objective tone and definitive quality to the statement. It also makes it more appropriate in formal writing than the other variations of this pattern we’ll see later in this lesson.
As far as utility is concerned, this pattern can follow nouns, verbs (non-past and past tense form), and adjectives (non-past and past tense form).
1. 大学院に進むとなると、一生懸命勉強しなければならない。
When it comes to proceeding to graduate school, you must study very hard.
Sentence Note: Here, the contrast implied is that if you were not to proceed to graduate school or pursue something else, you may not have to study near as hard, but because the change at hand is going to graduate school, the speaker feels impelled to tell the user what the natural consequence of that decision will be.
2. 解散となると、総選挙の争点は消費税になってしまう。
If it were to come to the dissolution (of the government assembly), the consumer tax would end up becoming the issue at hand in the general election.
3. 今日はかなり寒い。。。となるとラーメンかうどんが食べたくなります。
Today is quite cold…with that being the case, I’ll want to eat ramen or udon.
Sentence Note: As demonstrated by Ex. 3, this pattern may be used at the initial position of a sentence. This is the case for the other variants of this grammatical pattern we have yet to study closely, which are to be detailed later in this lesson.
4. 英語を話せない親が来るとなると、入国審査が心配です。
If my parents, who can’t speak English, were to come, I’d worry about their immigration checks.
5. 車選び、ましてや中古車となると、マーケットは幅広く選択肢がいっぱいです！
As for choosing cars, especially more so when it comes to used cars, the market is extensive and full of options!
Spelling Note: ましてや may seldom be spelled as 況してや.
6. ギャンブルにおける税金となると、あまりピンと来ない人も多いとは思いますが、獲得した賞金次第によっては税金を支払う必要が出てきます。
As far as taxes in gambling are concerned, I think this doesn’t come intuitively to a lot of people, but depending on the prize money you earn, it becomes necessary to pay taxes.
7. 香川さんはあまり飲まない人なんですが、飲むとなると、徹底的に飲む人ですよ。
Mr. Kagawa doesn’t drink that much, but when he does drink, he’s the kind of person who hits the bottle.
Sentence Note: This pattern is perfect to establish generalizations that involve some change in circumstance. Ex. 7 is a perfect example of this. The change in circumstance is Mr. Kagawa being in the position of imbibing. The generalization is that when he does hit the bottle, he goes all out.
8. え、本当に？暑いとなると、持ってく服を考え直さなくちゃなあ。
What, really? If it’s going to be hot (there), I’ll have to rethink what clothes to bring…
Sentence Note: It’s important to note that it is not implied that the place the speaker is going to has become hot. Rather, the speaker’s perception of what the temperature is like has changed.
9. 個人への影響となると、また少し違ってきます。
Where effects on the individual are concerned, it is once again a little different.
You mustn’t blindly associate every instance of ～となると with this grammatical pattern. The reason for this is that sometimes, like in Ex. 10, the final と is the citationと.
10. この財政問題は日本経済に大きなマイナス影響となると言えよう。
One could say that this economic problem will be a great, negative impact to the Japanese economy.
～ともなると: Especially when it comes to…
～ともなると is a more emphatic version of above. It enhances the implied sense of certainty that the speaker wishes to convey. As a result from the change in tone, this form is used a lot more in speech than the above.
11. 夏ともなると、蒸し暑い九州よりは北海道に行きたくなる。
Especially when it comes to summer, one feels like going to Hokkaido rather than humid Kyushu.
12. 数ヶ月の海外旅行ともなると、計画を立てなければならないですね。
Especially when it comes to vacationing abroad for several months, you must make a plan, you know.
13. 平日は人が少ないですが、休日ともなると、朝っぱらから観光客で道路が渋滞してしまいます。
On weekdays there are few people out, but especially on holidays, the streets become congested starting early in the morning.
14. 12月ともなると、町にはジングルベルのメロディーが溢れる。
Definitely when it comes to December, the town is flooded with the melody of jingle bells.
15. 憲法改正ともなると、色々なアイデアが出てきて、とても面白く議論（が）出来るようになるでしょう。
Definitely when it comes to revising the constitution, all sorts of ideas would come forth, and we’d surely be able to have very interesting debates.
～となったら: If it were…/when it comes to…
～となったら is used more frequently in the spoken language than ～となると, but it still finds itself used most frequently in the written language. The sentences that result with this variation are typically more hypothetical in nature than those with ～となると. This is due to the use of the particle たら. In a sense, it is far more deeply tied to the translation “if it were…”
As far as the utility of ～となったら is concerned, it too can follow nouns, verbs, or adjectives. You’ll see that it can be paired with both the non-past and past tense forms of a verb, which is the same as for ～となると. Choosing the past tense form, as is demonstrated in Ex. 19 and Ex. 20, causes the statement to be based on a point in time in the past and the speaker is choosing to refer back to that instance.
16. 彼女が日本初の女性首相となったら、それは国際舞台における欧米トレンドの更なる勝利となるだろう。
If she were to become Japan’s first female prime minister, that would likely be a further win to Western trends on the international stage.
17. これが関東圏への直接被害や津波となったら、パニックになっていたかもしれない。
If this were concerned with direct damage or tsunami to the Kanto region, (the public) may have been in a panic.
18. 津波となったら危ないところで、今日も避難勧告が出ていた。
With it being dangerous if it really were to come to a tsunami, an evacuation advisory had been called today as well.
19. 相手が怪我をしたとなったら、話は別になってしまいます。
If the/your opponent had become injured, that’d be a different story.
20. 土偶が出土したとなったら、それだけで開拓の手は止められます。
If dogū were to have been excavated, that alone would stop the means for development.
Word Note: Dogū are small humanoid/animal figures of prehistoric Japan.
21. LINEのグループとかで、″退室しました″となったら気になるものですか？
Are you bothered when you see “left group” in groups on LINE and what not?
22. 現在検出されている放射能は、地下水汚染となったら、その土壌で育つ農作物はすべて放射性物質を取り込むことになるのだろう。
If the radiation currently being detected were to contaminate ground water, all the crops nourished by the soil would surely take in the radioactive material.
23. 退職するとなったら、誰しも（が）円満退社したいと思っています。
When it comes to resigning, I think everyone wants to resign from one’s free will.
24. プロ野球の試合でも雨天中止となったら、別の日程でするんでしょうか。
If even a professional baseball match were to be canceled due to rain, would it be played on a different date?
25. イギリスがEU離脱となったらどうなるか。
What will become of England if it leaves the EU?
26. 専業主婦は離婚するとなったら、その後の生活はどうなるんですか。
If a housewife were to get divorced, what becomes of her livelihood afterward?
27. 満席が続くとなったら、それは凄いなあと思うんですが。
I think it’d be pretty awesome if it were to continue being full. (Occupancy)
28. 日本政府が破綻もしくは破綻の危機となったら、生き残る企業や業種は何でしょうか？
If the Japanese government were to go into bankruptcy, or if there were a bankruptcy crisis, what would be the companies and industries that would survive?
29. いざアメリカに移住するとなったら、手続きが大変だよ。
If one were to (suddenly) now immigrate to America, the procedures would be difficult.
30. こうなったら、もうやるっきゃない。
If it comes to this, I’ll have no choice but to do it.
～ともなったら: Especially when it comes to…
Although not as common as adding も to the other variants of this grammatical pattern, ～ともなったら is more emphatic than its counterpart without も.
31. 一晩の駐車料金に加えてタクシー代ともなったら、大変な金額になってしまう。
Especially when it comes to taxi fees in addition to a night’s worth of parking fees, that’d end up being a terrible amount of money.
32. 一向に進まず立ちっぱなしともなったら、ストレスが溜まってしまう。
Especially if it came to just standing on one’s feet for a long time and not moving forward at all, stress would build up.
33. 裁判ともなったら財産が押さえられるというイメージもあるかと思います。
Especially when it comes to court, you might have an image of your assets being seized.
34. 昭和時代では、18歳にもなったら許婚がいるのが当たり前で、決まっていないともなったら、笑いものになったらしい。
In the Showa Period, it was only natural to have a fiancé even at 18, and it seems that you were laughed at if it was the case that you hadn’t been committed to someone yet.
35. お泊り旅行ともなったら、絶対にエッチするはずだと思う。
Especially when it comes to traveling to stay overnight together, I think that you’d undoubtedly have sex.
～となれば: When/if it comes to…
You may have wondered how the use of the particle と is tied to these expressions. You should know at this point that the particle に is typically the particle of choice for なる. However, it is important to understand that the use of the particle に can only demonstrate literal change from one state to another.
The nuances that we have seen thus far involving comparison to other possible situations cannot be expressed with the particle に. The particle と helps establish the “when it comes to…” interpretation. In other words, we are focusing on the situation with these speech patterns. In Ex. 31, the speaker uses に to simply illustrate a change in president and what that president might do once in office.
36. ムン氏が大統領になれば、どんな政策を出すんだろう。
When Moon (Jae-in) becomes president, I wonder what sort of policies he’ll issue.
The use of ～となれば over the other variants seen thus far is done so to add more of an emotional flair to the sentence. It, like ～となったら, is more likely to be used in the spoken language than ～となると, but because the focus on change in circumstance and relating it to other outcomes is not always something that people employ in conversation, you will not hear this used every day. However, these patterns are still used quite a bit.
37. 東京オリンピックが中止となれば様々な影響が出てくるかと思います。
If the Tokyo Olympics became suspended, I think there would be various effects.
38. この10人を打ち倒し優勝となれば、すごい事ですね。
It would be amazing if (he) defeated these ten people and claimed victory.
39. 自ら不倫したとなれば、不利な離婚は仕方がないんでしょうか。
If you yourself committed adultery, would an unfavorable divorce be inevitable?
40. あんなに苦しんだことも、今となれば大したことではなかったと感じます。
When it comes to now, I feel that having suffered all that much wasn’t such a big deal.
41. 都知事が失脚したとなれば、 政界の人材不足が懸念されるのは当然だ。
If it comes to the governor of Tokyo falls from the position, it’s certain that the lack of talented people in the political world will be of concern.
42. 中検1級を取得したとなれば、もう中国語をマスターしたといってもいいでしょう。
If (he) is to achieve Level 1 of the Chinese Proficiency Test, it’d be safe to say that he’s mastered Chinese.
43. 一気に4本も抜歯したとなれば、普段と違う顔になってしまうこともあるだろう。
If you get four teeth removed in one go, you’ll definitely end up having a different face than normal.
44. となれば、もう諦めるしかないだろう。
If it comes to that, there’d be no other choice but to just give up.
45. アメリカが北朝鮮を武力攻撃するとなれば日本政府の最大の関心事は拉致被害者の救出についてでしょう。
If it comes to America launched an armed attack on North Korea, the greatest concern of the Japanese government would likely be about the rescue of abductees.
～ともなれば: Especially when/if it comes to…
The use of the particle も adds an extra layer of assertiveness to the statement. It also goes well with the emotional flair that the use of the particle ば provides.
46. マイホームを購入するともなれば、あれこれと考えることは多くなりそうですね。
Especially when it comes to buying one’s own home, it seems a lot of people would ponder about this and that, huh.
47. 真夏日ともなれば室温も普段より上がります。
Especially when it comes to midsummer days, indoor temperatures also rise higher than normal.
48. 正月ともなれば田畑は雪に埋もれて新鮮な野菜はほとんどありません。
Especially when it comes to New Year, the fields are buried in snow and there are hardly any fresh vegetables.
49. 解散・総選挙ともなれば、野党は必死にあらを探す。
Especially when it comes to (parliamentary) dismissal and general elections, the opposition party searches desperately for faults.
50. 高級なお寿司屋さんに行くともなれば、少しいつもとは違うお洒落をして気合いを入れたいと思うかもしれません。
Especially when it comes to going to a high grade sushi place, you probably might think to dress a little more stylish than usual and get psyched for it.