What is this verb form? 鳴きやんだら


From よつばと！vol. 1 ch. 6 p. 15:

> ジャンボ： 近｛ちか｝づく途中｛とちゅう｝で **鳴｛な｝きやんだら** 警戒｛けいかい｝してるんだ その時｛とき｝はじっと
> 鳴｛な｝き出｛だ｝すのを待｛ま｝つ

This is translated in the English edition as such:

> If it stops buzzing as you approach, that means it's looking out for you. So
> wait until it's buzzing a lot before you try and catch it.

I understand 鳴｛な｝きやんだら is 鳴く (sing), but how do you get from the dictionary
form to that?

By the way, I would appreciate if you could also give a more literal
translation of the sentence.




> 鳴きやんだら

It's a hypothetical form of 鳴きやむ, "stop buzzing/chirping".  
(The だら is the hypothetical form of the auxiliary た.)  
鳴きやむ is a compound verb consisting of 鳴く + やむ(止む).

* * *

A more literal translation would be like...

近づく途中で -- while [you are] approaching  
鳴きやんだら -- if [it] stops buzzing,  
警戒してるんだ -- it's that [it] is being cautious.  
その時は -- in that case,  
じっと -- patiently / quietly / standing still  
鳴き出すのを待つ -- [you] wait for it to start buzzing.




> 鳴きやんだら

It's a hypothetical form of 鳴きやむ, "stop buzzing/chirping".  
(The だら is the hypothetical form of the auxiliary た.)  
鳴きやむ is a compound verb consisting of 鳴く + やむ(止む).

* * *

A more literal translation would be like...

近づく途中で -- while [you are] approaching  
鳴きやんだら -- if [it] stops buzzing,  
警戒してるんだ -- it's that [it] is being cautious.  
その時は -- in that case,  
じっと -- patiently / quietly / standing still  
鳴き出すのを待つ -- [you] wait for it to start buzzing.

