Japanese with Manga

Awakening hidden power with いざとなれば

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

Seen from behind, Hayate wears cat ears and has a cloth tied over his eyes in a large bow. Speed lines surround him as he steels himself.
ハヤテのごとく！ » Volume 1 » Page 161

Nagi and Maria have dressed Hayate up as a cat-eared girl. Klaus, the head butler, has warned that a Sanzenin butler must always act like a man, and Hayate fears he’ll be fired if Klaus sees him like this. Klaus spots him in the garden, takes him for an intruder, and gives chase. The outfit slows Hayate down, so he ties a cloth over his face to fight back unrecognized, only to find he can’t see.

ハヤテ:
「ええい！！　人間(にんげん)いざとなれば眠(ねむ)れる力(ちから)が目覚(めざ)めるはず！！」
“Argh!! When push comes to shove, a person's hidden power is bound to awaken!!”
「自分(じぶん)の目(め)ではなく…心(こころ)の目(め)を信(しん)じるんだぁ！！！」
“Not my own eyes... I'll trust my mind's eye!!!”

Key Points

1いざとなれば = “when push comes to shove”
  • いざ means the moment is real, and となれば is the ば conditional of となる: “if it comes to that”.
  • With nothing before となれば, the phrase names a crisis or decisive moment in general. What follows is what the speaker counts on in that moment.
  • Hayate states a rule about people and then acts on it. He’s blindfolded and being chased, so for him the moment has come.
2眠(ねむ)れる力(ちから) = “sleeping power”
  • This 眠(ねむ)れる isn’t the potential form “can sleep”. It comes from older Japanese and means 眠(ねむ)っている, “sleeping”.
  • It survives in set phrases. 眠(ねむ)れる力(ちから) is strength lying dormant, and Sleeping Beauty is 眠(ねむ)れる森(もり)の美女(びじょ) in Japanese.
3人間(にんげん) … はず states a general rule
  • 人間(にんげん) with no は means “people” or “human beings” in general. It’s common at the start of a sweeping statement.
  • はず marks what he expects to happen based on what he believes: the hidden power “should” awaken.
4心(こころ)の目(め)を信(しん)じるんだ = “I’ll trust my mind’s eye”
  • AではなくB means “not A but B”: not his own eyes, but his mind’s eye.
  • 心(こころ)の目(め) is the mind’s eye, seeing by intuition instead of sight.
  • んだ after a dictionary-form verb can urge the listener, or here the speaker himself, to act. The stretched んだぁ turns it into a battle cry.

Vocabulary

(Human being)

人間(にんげん) means a human being or humanity. It can also refer to someone’s character or personality.

(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.

(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.

(To sleep)

眠(ねむ)る is to sleep.

(Power)

力(ちから) is the power or strength to move or do something. It also means ability or skill.

(To wake up)

目覚(めざ)める is to wake up from sleep. It also means for an ability, feeling, or awareness to awaken in someone, as in 才能(さいのう)に目覚(めざ)める, “to discover a talent”.

(Oneself)

自分(じぶん) is oneself. It refers back to the person doing the action, and some speakers use it to mean “I”.

(Eye)

目(め) is the eye. It also means a look or a kind of experience, as in ひどい目, a bad experience.

(Heart, mind)

心(こころ) is the heart or mind, where a person’s feelings, thoughts, and will are. 心(こころ)の目(め), “the mind’s eye”, is seeing or understanding without using your eyes.

(To believe)

信(しん)じる is to accept that something is true, or to trust someone.

See Also

ハヤテのごとく！ © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.