GrammarN12 min read2026-02-17

〜でもしたら

Presents a hypothetical negative scenario to warn about potential bad consequences.

Meaning

This pattern expresses a hypothetical condition and is often used when bringing up undesirable situations. It is used when saying that if a certain situation were to occur, it would lead to a bad outcome.

Formation

Part of speechFormation
Verb (ます-form)でもしたら
Nounでもしたら

Examples

  1. A:もっと森の奥を探検してみようよ。
    A: Let's go explore deeper into the forest.
    B:道に迷いでもしたらたいへんだよ。やめよう。
    B: If we got lost, that would be terrible. Let's not.

  2. A:この実験なんだけど、別の方法を思いついたんだ。やり方を変更しよう。
    A: About this experiment — I thought of a different method. Let's change the approach.
    B:せっかくここまで成功しているんだから、このままでいいじゃないか。失敗でもしたら一からやり直したよ。
    B: We've come this far successfully, so let's just keep going as is. If we were to fail, we'd have to start over from scratch.

  3. 姉のお菓子を一つぐらい食べてもいいかなど思ったけど、バレたりでもしたらまずいからやめた。
    I thought maybe it'd be okay to eat just one of my sister's snacks, but if I got caught, it would be bad, so I decided not to.

Summary

  • 「〜でもしたら」 means "if something like... were to happen"
  • Attaches to Verb (ます-form) or Noun

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