ならWere it, If, If it's the case, As for (Conditional)

As mentioned in our lesson about ば, なら is often used by itself to mean 'if'. This is considered to be an abbreviation of ならば, the hypothetical form of なり, a classical auxiliary verb that is not used much in modern Japanese.

Because なり originally meant 'to be', it functions in a similar way to the auxiliary verb だ. This means that it regularly pairs with nouns, or phrases that have been nominalized (become noun-like), through the use of の.

However, unlike だ (or です), なら is also regularly used without the extra help of の for nominalization, and can be attached directly to verbs or い-Adjectives.

Caution

Because なら is an abbreviation of ならば, it is strictly used when making guesses about what 'may', or what 'could' happen in certain situations. This means that it will not be used as 'if' in statements about results that are produced through some sort of effort/training.

Fun Fact

Although なら comes from the classical auxiliary verb なり, it should not be confused with the particle なり, which often has the meaning of 'as soon as', or 'just after'. Thankfully, the particle なり is also quite uncommon in modern Japanese.