Nested conditions


I encountered this sentence:

> 困ったら 食べれば 何とかなるって わかった
>
> I figured out eating solves all my problems!

Since nested if" is not used much in English, I wonder if this sentence sounds
natural in a conversation, or would people use some other way to express this
idea?

Also, can たら and ば be switched, like this?

> 困れば 食べたら 何とかなるって わかった




The first sentence sounds natural enough in everyday conversation.

> 困ったら食べれば何とかなるってわかった。

The second not so much.

> 困れば食べたら何とかなるってわかった。

The reason is that the first part with 困る supposes a specific one-time change
of state where the speaker has gotten into trouble, and this is expressed
better with たら.

The second part with 食べる, on the other hand, refers to the act of eating in
general, as opposed to the alternative of not eating, and this goes well with
ば. (As a native speaker of a Western dialect in which たら is more liberally
used than in standard Japanese, I personally wouldn’t mind the sequence of
困ったら食べたら too much, though.)

You can avoid nested conditions like this by rephrasing the first part using
時.

> 困った時には食べれば何とかなるってわかった。




The first sentence sounds natural enough in everyday conversation.

> 困ったら食べれば何とかなるってわかった。

The second not so much.

> 困れば食べたら何とかなるってわかった。

The reason is that the first part with 困る supposes a specific one-time change
of state where the speaker has gotten into trouble, and this is expressed
better with たら.

The second part with 食べる, on the other hand, refers to the act of eating in
general, as opposed to the alternative of not eating, and this goes well with
ば. (As a native speaker of a Western dialect in which たら is more liberally
used than in standard Japanese, I personally wouldn’t mind the sequence of
困ったら食べたら too much, though.)

You can avoid nested conditions like this by rephrasing the first part using
時.

> 困った時には食べれば何とかなるってわかった。

