日本語道場 — Nihongo Dojo

～ときたら

~to kitara

when it comes to (criticism)

When to use it

Use ～ときたら to single out a person, group, or thing as a topic and then launch into a complaint or exasperated evaluation of it. It's the grumbling cousin of ～は — natural when griping about a colleague, a department, or a vendor to someone on your own side, but far too blunt for email addressed to the party in question. In reading, expect it in essays, columns, and dialogue, rarely in formal reports.

Formation

Noun + ときたら — the standard and by far most common pattern: 部長ときたら、あの会社ときたら
Pronouns / demonstratives also work: 彼ときたら、あれときたら
Verbs / i-adjectives / na-adjectives: not used directly. Nominalize first (〜のときたら is unnatural; use 〜となると／〜ときては instead)
No copula: ✗ 部長だときたら → ○ 部長ときたら
The predicate that follows is almost always negative — criticism, disbelief, or a resigned generalization (〜ばかりだ、〜たことがない、〜んだから)

Examples

Our department head — all he does is doze off in meetings.
When it comes to that client, replies take a full week to arrive.
Accounting — they do nothing but flag trivial corrections.
As for him, he has never once made a report deadline.
Our company's system? It goes down at least once a month.