IF?

liangaorong
 August 22, 2011, 04:58 AM posted in General Discussion

大家好！

I am pretty confused about the terms 要是 and 如果 and how they are different! And what about 如果。。。的话？Or even 的话 on the end of a sentence...非常困惑。

谢谢你们 

Profile picture
jennyzhu
 August 22, 2011, 05:38 AM

要是 and 如果 both create a hypothetical situation. You can see them as "if". They come in the beginning of a sentence.

They can both be paired with 的话, e.g 要是我有钱的话，我会买车。如果我有钱的话，我会买车。But 的话 is optional. Leaving it out doesn't change the meaning of the sentence. 

Profile picture
bababardwan

So Jenny, they are totally interchangeable then? ...there is no difference in meaning or usage at all? I seem to have seen 如果 quite a deal more frequently.