Japanese with Manga

Anxious now that it's real with いざとなると

Grammar Explanation: When the time comes with いざ〜となると

Yukari, sweating behind her glasses, waves her hands as she talks. Mina stands beside her with a sweatdrop and a flat expression.
からかい上手の（元）高木さん » Volume 6 » Page 130

Yukari, Mina, and Sanae have been following Takagi’s family home. Watching them, Yukari sighs that she wants a marriage like that. When Takagi catches them, Yukari admits she hoped to learn the secret to a happy marriage, then reveals she’s getting married soon. Takagi congratulates her, and Mina starts to answer for her.

ミナ:
「すっかりマリッジブルーになっちゃって。」
“She's got a full-blown case of marriage blues.”
ユカリ:
「いざとなるとすっごく不安(ふあん)なのよ〜」
“Now that it's actually happening, I'm sooo nervous!”

Key Points

1いざとなると = “now that it’s actually happening”
  • いざとなると stands alone here, with no verb or noun before となると. The context supplies the occasion: Yukari’s upcoming wedding.
  • いざ stresses that this is real, not just a wish. となると points to the moment she has to face it.
  • What follows is a reaction that goes against what came before. She wanted a marriage like Takagi’s, but now that she has one coming, she’s anxious.
2不安(ふあん)なのよ explains how she feels
  • 不安(ふあん) is a な-adjective, so it takes な before の. のよ is a feminine way to explain: “I’m anxious, you see.”
  • The drawn-out 〜 turns it into a whine.
3すっごく = “sooo”
  • すっごく is an emphatic, casual すごく, “very”. The small っ stretches the word for emphasis.
4マリッジブルーになっちゃって
  • マリッジブルー, from English “marriage blue”, means pre-wedding gloom or jitters.
  • なっちゃって is なってしまって. ちゃう shows the change is complete, and すっかり adds “thoroughly”.
  • Mina’s sentence ends on the て-form, leaving the rest unsaid. Yukari picks up from there.

Vocabulary

(Completely)

すっかり describes a change that has gone all the way, so that nothing of the earlier state is left, as in すっかり忘(わす)れる, “forget entirely”.

(Pre-wedding blues)

マリッジブルー is the gloom or anxiety someone feels as their wedding approaches. It comes from English “marriage blue” and is also written マリッジ・ブルー.

(To become)

なる is to change into a different state or become something. It also means something turns out a certain way. It is also written 成(な)る.

(Actually, for real)

いざ marks the moment something stops being a plan and has to be done for real, as in いざ買(か)うとなると, “when it actually comes to buying”. On its own, it’s an old-fashioned “Now then!” said before starting something.

(Amazing)

すっごい is an emphatic, casual form of すごい.

(Anxiety)

不安(ふあん) means anxiety or unease, often a vague fear that something may go wrong.

See Also

からかい上手の（元）高木さん © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.