ならば vs なら. both are totally interchangeable without affecting the nuance of the sentence?


is it true that なら is merely a short form of ならば and as such, both are totally
interchangeable without affecting the nuance of the sentence?

Also, a second question is is ならば more "formal" than "なら" ?




First things first, なら does come historically from ならば. ならば itself is the
hypothetical form of the old copula なり, and it was constructed in the same way
the auxiliary verb たり changed into たらば, as I've already explained here: [Can
【～たら】 be a short form of
【～てから】?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/889/can-be-a-short-form-
of/897#897)

So it's なら (the mizenkei of なり) plus the hypothetical particle ば. Originally,
it was just the hypothetical form of the copula, so you could say it was the
equivalent of hypothetical and conditional forms of the modern copula (だ) such
as であれば and だったら. But in modern language it became a fixed expression and was
further shortened to なら in most cases, and came to be used with verbs as well
as nouns.

### Are なら and ならば completely interchangeable?

As far as I know yes, but the nuance of the sentence _could_ change since ならば
is not only more formal than なら, but also has a somewhat literary feeling to
it. It's pretty much absent from everyday speech, and even in very polite
speech I've rarely ever heard it (which might be just my experience, but
that's all I have). So if you want to be safe, you'd better use なら everywhere
until you get a better feel for the language.




First things first, なら does come historically from ならば. ならば itself is the
hypothetical form of the old copula なり, and it was constructed in the same way
the auxiliary verb たり changed into たらば, as I've already explained here: [Can
【～たら】 be a short form of
【～てから】?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/889/can-be-a-short-form-
of/897#897)

So it's なら (the mizenkei of なり) plus the hypothetical particle ば. Originally,
it was just the hypothetical form of the copula, so you could say it was the
equivalent of hypothetical and conditional forms of the modern copula (だ) such
as であれば and だったら. But in modern language it became a fixed expression and was
further shortened to なら in most cases, and came to be used with verbs as well
as nouns.

### Are なら and ならば completely interchangeable?

As far as I know yes, but the nuance of the sentence _could_ change since ならば
is not only more formal than なら, but also has a somewhat literary feeling to
it. It's pretty much absent from everyday speech, and even in very polite
speech I've rarely ever heard it (which might be just my experience, but
that's all I have). So if you want to be safe, you'd better use なら everywhere
until you get a better feel for the language.

