Anankastic conditional

An anankastic[1] conditional is a grammatical construction of the form

If you want X, you have to do Y.

where Y is required in order to get X, insisting a peremptory conditionate. For example:

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.[2]

Notes
  1. From Greek ἀναγκαστικός "compulsory" from ἀνάγκη "necessity."
  2. Spice Girls (1996), "Wannabe", Spice, Virgin Records


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.