1782
I came across a sentence using もあれば where there wasn't a conditional. あれば got
translated as sometimes:

> 名詞から動詞が派生していること **もあれば** 、その逆のこと **もある** 。  
>  Sometimes a verb is derived from a noun and sometimes it is the other way
> around.

Looking for more examples, I saw some more sentences with this "sometimes
this, sometimes that" pattern. I basically understand how to construct a
sentence with this pattern, but I also found some where I couldn't' tell what
もあれば was doing:

> 京都から高野山までは、3時間もあれば行ける距離です。  
>  Kyoto is about 3 hours distance from Mt. Koya  
>  
>  10分もあれば支度できます。  
>  It only takes me 10 minutes to get ready

What is もあれば's function in the last two examples?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-06T22:19:01.843
1779
2011-08-04T15:47:59.027
2011-08-04T15:47:59.027
54
54
question
set-phrases
Does もあれば have set phrases?
`ば` is conditional just as in the first example. `も` in these cases means
something like 'as less as'. The literal translations are respectively (Don't
expect that they are grammatical or natural in English):

> (The distance) from Kyoto to Koyasan is such that, if you have as less as
> three hours, you can get there.
>
> If I have as less as ten minutes, I can get ready.

By the way, although I know that it is not only the responsibility of the
English speaking people, I feel it unnatural when people write something like
`Mt. Koyasan`. It is as strange as saying `Mt. Mont Blanc`, `salsa sauce`,
`Volkswagen car`, etc.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-06T23:24:36.920
1782
2011-07-07T15:31:08.123
2011-07-07T15:31:08.123
1779
answer