diff --git a/R/translate.R b/R/translate.R
index 49aa14023..1505b8970 100644
--- a/R/translate.R
+++ b/R/translate.R
@@ -143,6 +143,20 @@ rel_find_packages <- function(name) {
   # Remember to update limits.Rmd when adding new functions!
 }
 
+# Operators and primitives that don't need call_match() for named argument normalization
+rel_primitives <- c(
+  # Comparison operators
+  "<", "<=", ">", ">=", "==", "!=",
+  # Logical operators
+  "|", "&", "!",
+  # Arithmetic operators
+  "+", "-", "*", "/",
+  # Special functions
+  "(", "$", "%in%",
+  # Aggregation functions with ... signatures (handled specially with custom definitions)
+  "sum", "min", "max", "any", "all", "mean", "sd", "median", "n_distinct"
+)
+
 rel_find_call_candidates <- function(fun, call = caller_env()) {
   name <- as.character(fun)
 
@@ -291,11 +305,13 @@ rel_translate_lang <- function(
     }
   }
 
-
-  if (!(name %in% c("wday", "strftime", "lag", "lead", "sum", "min", "max", "any", "all", "mean", "median", "sd", "n_distinct"))) {
-    if (!is.null(names(expr)) && any(names(expr) != "")) {
-      # Fix grepl() and sum()/min()/max() logic below when allowing matching by argument name
-      cli::cli_abort("Can't translate named argument {.code {name}({names(expr)[names(expr) != ''][[1]]} = )}.", call = call)
+  # Apply call_match() to normalize named arguments for non-primitive functions
+  # For primitives/operators, skip call_match and rely on positional argument handling
+  if (!(name %in% rel_primitives)) {
+    # Get function definition from the package namespace
+    fn_def <- get0(name, envir = asNamespace(pkg), mode = "function")
+    if (!is.null(fn_def)) {
+      expr <- call_match(expr, fn_def, dots_env = env)
     }
   }
 
@@ -308,22 +324,30 @@ rel_translate_lang <- function(
       if (!is.null(pkg) && pkg != "lubridate") {
         cli::cli_abort("Don't know how to translate {.code {pkg}::{name}}.", call = call)
       }
-      call <- call_match(expr, lubridate::wday, dots_env = env)
-      args <- as.list(call[-1])
+      # call_match() already applied above
+      args <- as.list(expr[-1])
       bad <- !(names(args) %in% c("x"))
       if (any(bad)) {
-        cli::cli_abort("{name}({names(args)[which(bad)[[1]]]} = ) not supported", call = call)
+        cli::cli_abort("{.code {name}({names(args)[which(bad)[[1]]]} = )} not supported", call = call)
       }
       if (!is.null(getOption("lubridate.week.start"))) {
         cli::cli_abort('{.code wday()} with {.code option("lubridate.week.start")} not supported', call = call)
       }
     },
     "strftime" = {
-      call <- call_match(expr, strftime, dots_env = env)
-      args <- as.list(call[-1])
+      # call_match() already applied above
+      args <- as.list(expr[-1])
       bad <- !(names(args) %in% c("x", "format"))
       if (any(bad)) {
-        cli::cli_abort("{name}({names(args)[which(bad)[[1]]]} = ) not supported", call = call)
+        cli::cli_abort("{.code {name}({names(args)[which(bad)[[1]]]} = )} not supported", call = call)
+      }
+    },
+    "if_else" = {
+      # call_match() already applied above; validate only supported args are used
+      args <- as.list(expr[-1])
+      bad <- !(names(args) %in% c("condition", "true", "false"))
+      if (any(bad)) {
+        cli::cli_abort("{.code {name}({names(args)[which(bad)[[1]]]} = )} not supported", call = call)
       }
     },
     "%in%" = {
@@ -429,8 +453,8 @@ rel_translate_lang <- function(
   offset_expr <- NULL
   default_expr <- NULL
   if (name %in% c("lag", "lead")) {
+    # call_match() already applied above; extract special arguments
     # x, n = 1L, default = NULL, order_by = NULL
-    expr <- call_match(expr, lag, dots_env = env)
 
     offset_expr <- relexpr_constant(expr$n %||% 1L)
     expr$n <- NULL
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/translate.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/translate.md
index 0cd69d993..4f6331c5a 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/translate.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/translate.md
@@ -619,3 +619,19 @@
       Error:
       ! Function `mean()` does not map to `base::mean()`.
 
+# if_else with named arguments
+
+    Code
+      rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, true = b, false = c, missing = NA)), df)
+    Condition
+      Error:
+      ! `if_else(missing = )` not supported
+
+---
+
+    Code
+      rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, true = b, false = c, ptype = integer())), df)
+    Condition
+      Error:
+      ! `if_else(ptype = )` not supported
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-translate.R b/tests/testthat/test-translate.R
index b8f526ef1..bf2c9bad3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-translate.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-translate.R
@@ -235,3 +235,35 @@ test_that("dd$ prefix", {
     mutate(b = dd$ascii(a))
   expect_equal(out, duckdb_tibble(a = "duckdb", b = 100L))
 })
+
+test_that("if_else with named arguments", {
+  df <- data.frame(a = c(TRUE, FALSE, NA), b = 1:3, c = 4:6)
+
+  # Named arguments should be normalized and work
+  expect_identical(
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, true = b, false = c)), df),
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, b, c)), df)
+  )
+
+  # Arguments can be reordered using names
+  expect_identical(
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, false = c, true = b)), df),
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, b, c)), df)
+  )
+
+  # condition argument can be named
+  expect_identical(
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(condition = a, true = b, false = c)), df),
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, b, c)), df)
+  )
+
+  # missing= argument is not supported
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, {
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, true = b, false = c, missing = NA)), df)
+  })
+
+  # ptype= argument is not supported
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, {
+    rel_translate(quo(if_else(a, true = b, false = c, ptype = integer())), df)
+  })
+})