When あれば means "sometimes", does it still have a conditional interpretation?


In

> 彼女は優しいことも **あれば** 、怖いこともある。
>
> Sometimes my girlfriend is nice, but other times she's scary.

it appears that あれば is being used in a way that has nothing to do with
conditionals. Is this the case? Or is there some conditional interpretation of
this sentence that accurately conveys the meaning of this sentence?

> As for my girlfriend, if there are even times she is kind, there are also
> times when she is scary.

Forcing a conditional interpretation doesn't seem to work very well in
English. But is this still what the sentence _literally_ means?

**EDIT:** I was under the impression that -えば conditionals always have
antecedents that are presumed (currently) false by the speaker. But "優しいこと"
seems (currently) presumed true by the speaker. So it's very perplexing why
あれば can be used to mean "sometimes" here!




The structure is used to express contrast. "If she has a kind side then she
also has an intimidating side." "My girlfriend has a kind side and a harsh
side." "Sometimes she is nice, sometimes she is scary." Technically, the
syntax is a conditional but the derived meaning is not. This makes more
logical sense when the structure is used to make broader generalizations such
as "If there are good things, then there are also bad things."
いいこともあれば、悪いこともある。Or "Some like baseball, others like soccer."
野球が好きな人もいれば、サッカーが好きな人もいる。So, technically, whether or not she has a scary side
depends on her having a kind side as well. But we can take away that the
sentence means she has both sides.




The structure is used to express contrast. "If she has a kind side then she
also has an intimidating side." "My girlfriend has a kind side and a harsh
side." "Sometimes she is nice, sometimes she is scary." Technically, the
syntax is a conditional but the derived meaning is not. This makes more
logical sense when the structure is used to make broader generalizations such
as "If there are good things, then there are also bad things."
いいこともあれば、悪いこともある。Or "Some like baseball, others like soccer."
野球が好きな人もいれば、サッカーが好きな人もいる。So, technically, whether or not she has a scary side
depends on her having a kind side as well. But we can take away that the
sentence means she has both sides.

