とするとIf it were the case that, Assuming that...

Hypothetical

Structure

Verb + としたら⁽¹⁾
［い］Adjective + としたら⁽¹⁾
［な］Adjective + （だ） + としたら⁽¹⁾
Noun + （だ） + としたら⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ とすると、とすれば

Details

About としたら・とすれば・とすると

When partnered with several of the assumption based expressions that are used in Japanese, the case marking particle と may be used to show a hypothesis about a certain result. This is one of the result highlighting uses of と. Structures that may be seen are as follows:

(A) としたら (B) - When (A) is the result, (B).

(A) とすれば (B) - If the result is (A), (B).

(A) とすると (B) - A result of (A) will be (B).

Although these nuances are slightly different, realistically they are used in almost exactly the same way, to express a possible (undetermined) result. This can be translated to 'assuming that (A)', or 'if it were the case that (A)'.

To use these expressions, simply attach と and your chosen variation of したら to the end of any verb/い-Adjective, or noun/な-Adjective followed by だ.

Synonyms

Examples

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付(つ)き合(あ)うとしたら、田中(たなか)さんと山田(やまだ)さんどっちがいい？

If you were to date Tanaka or Yamada, who would you choose?

無料(むりょう)だとすれば、人(ひと)が大勢(おおぜい)来(く)る。

If we suppose it was free, lots of people would come.

留学(りゅうがく)に行(い)くとすると、論文(ろんぶん)が必要(ひつよう)。

Assuming that you study abroad, an essay is necessary.

買(か)い物(もの)に行(い)かないとしたら、晩御飯(ばんごはん)はどうする？

Assuming that I don't go shopping, what will be done about dinner?

もし会(あ)えるとしたら、明日(あした)か明後日(あさって)だね。

Assuming that we can meet, it will be either tomorrow or the day after.

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Online
- Purposes of としたら、とすると and とすれば
  Japanese Stack Exchange
- Making hypotheses with 「とする」
  Tae Kim
- Further Example Sentences and Breakdown
  JLPT Sensei

Offline
- Tobira
  Page 173
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 287
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としたら・とすれば・とすると – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (20 in total)

Vesicularorb
What is the purpose/difference from " 明日あしたの試合しあいに勝かったとすれば、決勝けっしょうに進すすめる and just making the exact same sentence but making the original verb in ば form (勝てば）
soundjona
Hello @Asher ,

But how is it different than としても then ? Which if I understand also, is a way to say "Even (も) if we accept this state (として) ?

Asking because I still don’t know how to chose which one in the reviews and keep getting errors trying to put one when bunpro expects another, and I start to feel I just have to cram and memorize by heart the hint text …
Asher
Actually, it seems like you have found an error here! The original sentence for this one is written as としたら, but とすると is accepted as an alternative answer. In this case, although it is grammatically correct, とすると would be unnatural, as the result is far more definite with とすると, so using it with an assumption about the future, which is not definite, would not be appropriate.

I will change this so that it is not accepted as a correct alternative.

As for why としても is not accepted, that is because there is not contradictory logic between the (A) and (B) part of the sentence. としても usually indicates that there is a contradiction. In the first half, the person assumes they didn’t study, and in the second half the result would be typical of someone that did not study. However, if we changed the first half to もし勉強したとしても, then としても would be acceptable, because the contradiction of studying, but having a bad result anyway would be in place.