@snailboat Eek. I'm not sure how productive another comment would be, given the subjective nature of the matter… Nevermind my personal objections against labeling speech patterns as masculine or feminine, in this day and age! :)
明日都合がよければきてください.
東京へきたら、ぜひ連絡してください.
Why in the second example we can't replace たら with ば but in the first one we use ば.
Aren't きてください and 連絡してください both requests or is there a difference?
I cannot think of a single coherent reason why 来れば連絡してください doesn't work. Even putting the keigo issue aside, 来れば案内するよ, 来るなら(ば)連絡してね, and 来ることがあれば連絡してね all work, but 来れば連絡してね is super weird! What's going on here??
I think 〜ば〜ください never works except in the case of あれば.
Just a personal feeling, but 〜ば feels like it's lacking some important element. 来たら has the 〜た perfect element in it. なら(ば) has the copula なり in it. あれば obviously has ある in it. ば on it's on is just... blank.
(An argument from etymology, a.k.a not so great, but I think there is some related semantic property.)
Wait no, it definitely does work, argh. It doesn't work when it's like a normal active verb on the left. Needs to be stative?
Well, condolences to the OP, because I'm already confused with what verbs are dynamic or stative!
@DariusJahandarie I think you should convert your comment to an answer. I like your etymological explanation too.
It amazes me how many strict, logical rules we follow without even knowing what they are. This Stack Exchange experience has really led me to reconsider Chomsky…
@mirka Thanks. I want to turn it into an answer, but I don't yet understand why it matters that the condition be stative. Maybe because without it, the statement is sort of "floating around", not locked down to a specific time? With 来れば案内するよ, the 来る event is clearly in future thanks to the する, but with 来れば連絡してください it doesn't have a time?
I don't have a good enough intuition to figure out "where" or "how" it feels wrong...
Yes, I can't get to the root cause too. Maybe it has something to do with when the if-clause subject is the same as the result-clause subject. (あなたが)来れば(私が)案内するよ is clearly ok. 熱が下がれば(あなたが)連絡してね or 電車が来れば(あなたが)連絡してね don't feel as glaringly wrong as (あなたが)来れば(あなたが)連絡してね.
(Sorry if 熱が下がる and 電車が来る are stative. I think they're dynamic, but I just learned this concept and don't fully understand it yet.)
Yeah, they're both dynamic. In the first example I think it's still (あなたが)熱が下がれば though.
Do 〜してください clauses actually have grammatical subjects? I think the actor of the verb is the listener, but it's news to me if you can actually put a が-marked thing in there -- is that just a short-hand?
That's certainly a more natural sentence if you were to actually include あなた, but my theory about how omission works in Japanese is that it's actually あなたは/あなたが being omitted (and the "possesion" between the subject and the other element is implicit, just like in 太郎は背が高い and 太郎は財布を盗まれた).
Maybe I shouldn't bring my fairly unsubstantiated theories into conversations though. :P