I've looked at previous posts made on conditionals but still have a bit of
trouble with なら. I was hoping someone could tell me the differences in
meaning/nuance between the following sentences. The first two sentences came
from _A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar_ (p.283) and apparently do exist,
but the the last two I made up and would like to know if they work at all and
why/why not.

> テープレコーダーを **買う** ならテープを **くれる** はずです。(in dictionary)
>
> テープレコーダーを **買った** ならテープを **くれる** はずです。(in dictionary)
>
> テープレコーダーを **買った** ならテープを **くれた** はずです。(made up)
>
> テープレコーダーを **買う** ならテープを **くれた** はずです。(made up)

Also can you have 買っている/買っていた and くれている/くれていた？ This is probably a really
stupid question but I'm obsessed with knowing all the possibilities.

よろしくおねがいします！
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2016-01-04T11:47:37.683
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question
grammar meaning nuances tense conditionals
Different nuances in meaning for なら sentences
Here are my interpretations of the four sentences, in the listed order.

(1) If [you] (are going to) buy a tape recorder, [I] expect [them] to give
[you] tapes. _(Statement of expected outcome. Here I would interpret the tapes
to come with the recorder.)_

(2) If [you] bought a tape recorder, [I] expect [them] to give [you] tapes.
_(Statement of expected outcome. Tapes are supplied to those who bought
recorders in the past.)_

(3) If [you] bought a tape recorder, [they] should have given [you] tapes.
_(Implies the expected outcome did not occur. They recorder was bought, but no
tapes were supplied.)_

(4) If [you] are going to buy a tape recorder, [they] should have given [you]
tapes. _(Implies the expected outcome did not occur. Tapes should have been
given to someone with the intent/promise of buying a recorder in the future.)_

買っている/くれている to me implies a steady/regular purchase, say a monthly shipment,
for example. It than makes sense that one could expect a steady shipment of
tapes to be supplied with it.

買っていた/くれていた is like (3) above but for regular shipments.

Edit: I realized 買っていた/くれていた does make sense.
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answer