Learn Japanese with Anime - If You Move Forward You Gain Two (The Witch from Mercury)

Analysis

逃げたら一つ

逃(に)げ(げ)た(た)ら(ら) means “if you run away”. It’s the conditional form of the verb 逃(に)げ(げ)る(る) meaning “to run away”, used when you leave or escape from a place, person, or situation. To make the conditional form, change the verb into the ta-form and attach ら. For example, 飲(の)む(む) meaning “to drink” becomes 飲(の)ん(ん)だ(だ)ら(ら) (if you drink), 食(た)べ(べ)る(る) meaning “to eat” becomes 食(た)べ(べ)た(た)ら(ら) (if you eat), す(す)る(る) meaning “to do” becomes し(し)た(た)ら(ら) (if you do). So 逃(に)げ(げ)る(る) becomes 逃(に)げ(げ)た(た)ら(ら).

一(ひと)つ(つ) means “one” or “one thing”. The numeral in kanji read as ひと represents “one” and つ is the counter suffix used to count general things or abstract things.

進めば二つ

進(すす)め(め)ば(ば) means “if you move forward”. It’s another conditional form using ば. To make this form, take the dictionary form 進(すす)む(む) meaning “to move forward” and switch the last hiragana which is from the う-line to the え-line and attach ば. For example, 飲(の)む(む) becomes 飲(の)め(め)ば(ば), 食(た)べ(べ)る(る) becomes 食(た)べ(べ)れ(れ)ば(ば), す(す)る(る) becomes す(す)れ(れ)ば(ば). So 進(すす)む(む) becomes 進(すす)め(め)ば(ば).

二(ふた)つ(つ) means “two” or “two things”. The numeral in kanji read as ふた represents “two” and it’s followed by the counter suffix つ.

手に入る

Lastly, 手(て)に(に)入(はい)る(る) means “to gain” or “obtain”. It’s actually an intransitive verb meaning “(something) comes into a hand”, but you can translate it as “to gain or obtain (something)”.

So 逃(に)げ(げ)た(た)ら(ら)一(ひと)つ(つ)、進(すす)め(め)ば(ば)二(ふた)つ(つ)、手(て)に(に)入(はい)る(る) means “if you run away, one, if you move forward, two, you gain”. The last verb is combined with both 一(ひと)つ(つ) and 二(ふた)つ(つ) so you can also say 逃(に)げ(げ)た(た)ら(ら)一(ひと)つ(つ)手(て)に(に)入(はい)る(る)。進(すす)め(め)ば(ば)二(ふた)つ(つ)手(て)に(に)入(はい)る(る) (if you run away, one, if you move forward, two, . But you can leave out the repeated verb and make it into one sentence. In Japanese, the main verb comes at the end of the sentence so the first verb should be left out.

Difference Between たら and ば

たら and ば can often replace each other in hypothetical sentences. However, ば is usually used with a good result, whereas たら doesn’t have that kind of restriction so the result can be good or bad.

For example, “if you stay here, you’ll be safe” in Japanese can be “ここにいたら安(あん)全(ぜん)です” or “ここにいれば安(あん)全(ぜん)です”. They’re both correct as the result “you’ll be safe” is something you hope for.

But if the result is 危(き)険(けん)です meaning “you’ll be in danger”, ここにいれば危(き)険(けん)です sounds weird as “being in danger” is something you want to avoid. So in this case, ここにいたら危(き)険(けん)です is suitable as たら can be used with a bad result.

逃げたら一つ、進めば二つ手に入る

The results, gaining one and gaining two are not expressed as the “bad result” so they can actually replace each other, such as 逃げれば一つ、進んだら二つ手に入る. But the main point of this quote is to encourage someone to move forward in order to gain two things, such as experience, pride, and even trust, which is much better than gaining one thing, “not losing”. By using ば, the result 二つ手に入る can be expressed as a favourable result which helps persuade someone to move forward.