Japanese Day 12 – The と (To) Particle

Today we are looking another sentence particle that you will find in a lot of Japanese sentences, theと(to) particle, so let’s jump into it.

The と (To) Particle In Japanese

The とparticle is really simple, it is just a connecting particle, joining two things together. You are mostly likely going to see it meaning “and” or “with”, so let’s go through these two ways it can be translated so you can look out for it in your immersion.

と (to) Means “And”

When you see the と particle in a sentence, it is often going to be like “AND” in English.

You will see it often it linking nouns together in a list. After each noun, there will be a と.

Aと C …or … Aと Bと C.

This can really go on forever Aと Bと Cと D and so on.

You would just translate this as A and B and C. It really is that simple.

However, you may notice that this can be missing in spoken every day Japanese. Although in theory it should always be there when reciting a list of nouns.

It is important to note that the とparticle is used for a complete list of nouns. If you are being vague and just mentioning a few things, like you are just giving a few examples, you would use the や (ya) particle, but we will cover this in another lesson.

Also, when it comes to linking verbs, such as “eat and drink”, this would also be done a little differently, but we won’t worry about that for now, it’s also another lesson. 

と (to) Means “Together”

You might also see the とparticle being translated to mean “together” or “with” and the context of the sentence will help you make more sense of this.

Using the particle in this way is  also pretty simple, you can you can use it to say you did something with someone as such, meaning you did it together.

Even if you wrongly translate it as “and” it would still makes sense. It might sound a bit strange, but you would then realise it should probably be translated as “with”.

If we take the example:

タナカは猫と遊ぶ  – Tanaka plays with cats

If you read this as:  “As for Tanaka, cats and play”.  You would think it was strange, but I think you would get the meaning that Tanaka is playing with cats. 

You might just end up doing this a few times, but I think after enough immersion you will make sense of it a little quicker and realise it’s not “AND” and is more likely “WITH”.

(Return To: The Full List of All The Japanese Lessons)

Today’s Vocabulary

辞書 (じしょ) – Dictionary

ノート – Notebook

~円 (えん) – Yen (currency)

土曜日 (どようび) – Saturday

寒い (さむい) – Cold

咖哩 / カレー – Curry

黒 (くろ) – Black

返す (かえす) – To Return (something)

Today’s Immersion Videos

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(Go To The Next Lesson: Day 13 – Adjectives In The Past Tense)