Meaning of the pattern ～ては


I'm currently studying Japanese from Nihongo Sou Matome N1 book, and I would
like your help in order to understand this grammar pattern.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fVuzi.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fVuzi.png)

I'm a little bit confused about its meaning, because in the first sentence,
～ては seems to mean "when". However, in the second sentence, ～ては seems to mean
"since, because, due to". So, as these two meanings are quite different from
each other, I would like to know what does ～ては really mean.

Thank you so much in advance for your help!




This (as opposed to a couple of other) usage of ては is, to my mind, just an
emphatic use of て form. Importantly, however, it is used where the outcome –
or the subjective comment on the outcome – is negative. A little more
specifically, in a sentence Aては、B, A expresses the action or state for which
the following negative statement B applies.

You sound a little confused about the similar and different usages of 'if',
'when', and 'because' in English... but I would say that you've almost
certainly confronted this problem before, when translating たら from Japanese to
English. So perhaps thinking about when you translate たら as 'if' vs 'when'
will help you to understand this use of ては.

Other example usages of this ては are:

> こんなに忙しくては、新聞も読めない。

  * When I'm this busy, I can't even read the newspaper.

> こんなに働かされては、病気になってしまうよ。

  * If I'm forced to work like this, I will end up becoming ill.

> あの男が来ては、邪魔になる。

  * If he comes, he'll get in the way.

(taken from Makino & Tsutsui's 'A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese
Grammar')

Hope that helps!

(I would, as an aside, suggest you find another resource to complement Nihongo
Sou Matome, as it (clearly!) lacks sufficient (or any) explanation of the
grammar points. It's not nearly enough to just have the translation,
especially when their translations are often awkward in English, and
occasionally just simply incorrect. Best of luck!)

