99555
The particles in question are てこそ and ば

The sentence I found them in is 競ってこそ花 負けて落ちれば泥. For context, the speaker has
just met the listener.

てこそ is odd to understand because the way the sentence is translated and the
definition that I searched does not seem to match up.

The sentence is translated to "Surely, if you compete against a flower, you
will lose and fall in the mud".

On one hand, this does match up with the definition for こそ which is "for
sure". However, てこそ is described as "now that" or "since".

The next particle I have trouble understanding is ば. If and then does not seem
to fit here so I am assuming the particle is indicating supposition. Yet, if
てこそ does mean "Surely", doesn't ば contradict that?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-06T14:02:27.820
99537
2023-05-08T05:06:09.937
56253
question
grammar particles
What do these particles exactly do in this sentence? 「競ってこそ花 負けて落ちれば泥 」
A little googling seems to show the full phrase is 「女は競ってこそ花 負けて落ちれば泥」which is
from a well-known haiku made popular by the movie The Geisha (陽暉楼).

Since it was originally a haiku, an equally poetic translation would give it
justice, but for an easy-to-understand translation, you could say it means "
**It's precisely because women compete that they become (beautiful) like
flowers, and if they lose, they fall into the mud** "

The phrase highlights the harsh world of woman and is saying that they shine
most when competing with each other, but if they lose, they end up in disgrace
or humiliation.

As for grammar, there is nothing unusual or tricky about it. It's just the
translation that seems to have tripped you up. There are many ways to
translate something, and some are better than others (and some are just
wrong).

The てこそ here is just a verb in the て-form + koso which means something like
"precisely because of" as explained [here](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-
japanese-grammar/%E3%81%93%E3%81%9D-koso-meaning/).

The ば is a conditional form of a verb that means "if" or "when" explained
[here](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%B0-ba-conditional-
form-meaning/).
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-08T03:32:31.540
99555
2023-05-08T05:06:09.937
2023-05-08T05:06:09.937
55721
55721
99537
answer