What is the difference when using dake and nara in sentences, and if possible
an example sentence for each would be helpful too. Thank you very much. They
both mean just if I'm not mistaken. Like if I said I only understand hiragana.
ひらがなだけです. Or ひらがなならわかります. Which is better and why
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2018-09-04T03:09:49.817
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2019-10-28T11:18:59.927
2018-09-25T17:19:00.890
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word-choice
Difference between だけ and なら
だけ means only, なら is, in the sense I think you're referring to, a conditional
verb ending. They do not mean the same thing.
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2018-09-04T23:09:24.707
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I'm going to take a stab at this:

> ひらがなだけです。 ([It's] only hiragana.)
>
> ひらがなならわかります。 (If [it's] hiragana, [I] understand.)

They don't exactly mean the same thing, although they can carry the same
connotation of the speaker wanting/needing ひらがな in order to understand the
topic at hand (although the first phrase might be a little blunt and far-
fetched).

Now to your actual question of differences between なら and だけ:

**[なら](https://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89)** is, as @HdcLsh said, a
conditional auxiliary. It's used in situations where there is an if-then
relationship in the sentence:

> 君はあの本を読む _なら_ 、これを知ってる。
>
> _If_ you read that book, you know this.

**However** , **[だけ](https://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%A0%E3%81%91)** is a
separate particle, used to indicate "only" or "simply":

> リンゴ _だけ_ を食べた。
>
> [I] _only_ ate the apple.

Therefore, you can see the drastic difference in the actual definition of
those words.
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2018-09-25T18:03:47.220
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