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I am reading through Shirane Haruo's _Classical Japanese: A Grammar_ , and
I've come across what I think is a discrepancy.

The example given for ナ変 verbs is 死ぬ:

> _Mizenkei_ : **死な** ば一所で **死な** ん. _SHINA-ba issho de SHINA-n._
>

>> If we are going _to die_ ( _shina-ba_ ), let us _die_ ( _shina-n_ ) in one
place ( _issho_ ). ( _Heike_ , Hōjūji kassen, vol. 8, NKBT 33:158) ( _Shina-
ba_ is the _mizenkei_ of _shinu_ , "to die," and the conjunctive particle _ba_
, indicating a hypothetical condition. _Shina-n_ is the _mizenkei_ of _shinu_
and the _shūseiki_ of the auxiliary verb _mu_ , indicating intention. _N_ is a
nasalized sound change from _mu_.)

> _Izenkei_ : 又かく **死ぬれ** ば… _Mata kaku SHINURE-ba..._
>

>> Furthermore ( _mata_ ), since I am going to _die_ ( _shinure-ba_ ) like
this ( _kaku_ )... ( _Ochikubo_ , book 4, NKBT 13:208) ( _Shinure-ba_ is the
_izenkei_ of _shinu_ plus the conjunctive particle _ba_.)

( _Classical Japanese: A Grammar_ , SHIRANE Haruo, pp. 37-38)

If I understand correctly, 未然形 is the "imperfective" form and 已然形 is the
"perfective." Why, then, is the example sentence for 已然形 seemingly interpreted
as though the verb is imperfective ("going to die" as opposed to "have died")?
Is this a quirk of translating between Japanese and English? Or am I not
understanding how the 已然形 is used?
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2020-08-17T02:11:25.453
80193
2020-08-18T07:21:09.777
10327
question
classical-japanese
using 未然形 and 已然形 with conditional ば
`未然形 + ば` is ～たら/なら/(れ)ば, and `已然形 + ば` is ～(な)ので/～(だ)から in modern Japanese.
The difference between 死なば and 死ぬれば is the difference between " **if** I
(will) die" and " **since** I (will) die". In your first example, the future
death was hypothetical, whereas in your second example, 死ぬれば is more natural
because the speaker's death was imminent and inevitable at that point. That's
what 已然 refers to.

已然形 does not show the perfect aspect on its own. You need たり or ぬ to describe
the perfect aspect; "if [someone] has died" is 死にたらば, and "since [someone] has
died" is 死にたれば.

(I'm not very good at 古語 and my answer may contain mistakes. Corrections are
welcome.)
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2020-08-18T05:30:27.327
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2020-08-18T07:21:09.777
2020-08-18T07:21:09.777
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answer