What is the difference between と, たら and 時【とき】?


First, I came across this sentence using と in a way I've never encountered
before.

> ピノキオはうそを吐くと、鼻が長くなります。

My translation: When/As Pinocchio tells lies his nose becomes longer.

After a little research and based on the context of the sentence I figured
this use of と must mean 'when' or 'as' as opposed to the 'and' meaning but
then I started wondering what the difference is between this 'when' and the
時【とき】 'when' and the たら 'when' in terms of usage.




They could all be translated to 'when' in English but:

AとB in this case indicates that A first happens, then immediately after B
happens. This is the case in your example!

たら can have more uncertainty in it, i.e. it can be used to express sentences
where you'd use 'if' in English.

I think of とき as 'the time when' or 'everytime when'.

Just offering my two cents here. I am still learning too!:) I'm not good
enough to provide the lengthy grammatical replies you usually get on this
site, so sorry if it's a bit short. Anyway, at this level I find shorter
answers more helpful. Hope you agree:)




### Causality

In broad terms, I've noticed three kinds of constructions that loosely
correlate to "if / then". The main differences between these appear to be
differences in emphasis and causal relationship.

  * 行くと XX  
Tells us _whenever_ someone goes, XX happens. XX is an inevitable consequence
of the verb.

  * 行けば XX  
Tells us that _only if_ someone goes, XX happens. The verb is a precondition
of XX.

  * 行ったら XX  
Seems to be the most neutral. If [verb], then XX; or possibly, after [verb],
then XX. This is less causally strict, and seems a bit more casual in that
respect: "if you happen to go, or on the off chance that you go, then XX".

### Timing

Various constructions are used to describe the order of events. Among these,

  * 行くと XX  
This still has strong causal overtones, so this is probably best glossed as
"whenever [verb], XX".

  * 行ったら 
  * 行ってから  
These two are often regarded as synonymous when describing the order of
events. One teacher of mine even suggested that -たら was a contraction of -てから,
though it bears noting that Shogakukan, Daijirin, and others state that the
-たら ending is the potential form of past auxiliary た, itself a contraction of
たる, a contraction of て + ある.  
The basic sense is "[verb] happens, and then ..."

  * 行くとき  
Literally, "the time when [subject] goes". This more specifically refers to
the point in time when the [verb] happens.

