The Particle “to” (と)

Contents

In short: The particle “to” (と) has two main functions
A bit more on the particle “to” (と)
Bonus

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1. In short: The particle “to” (と) has two main functions

(1) It can mean “and…” after a noun

Example 1: りんごとなしを食たべました。Ringo to nashi o tabemashita. (I ate an apple and a pear.)

(2) It can mean “with…, accompanied by…” after a noun expressing a person

Ex. 2: 友ともだちと新あたらしいカフェへ行いきました。Tomodachi to atarashii kafe e ikimashita. (I went to a new café with a friend.)

2. A bit more on the particle “to” (と)

In English, you can use “and” to connect nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and sentences to the following word(s), but you can’t use the particle “to” in the same way in Japanese. Instead, we have different systems of saying “and” according to the kind of words to be connected, and it is not a choice.

In the future, we will post on all the different ways to say “and”, but maybe you already know some of them. Observe the following examples:

Ex. 3: 今け朝さ6時じに起おきて、シャワーを浴あびて、コーヒーを飲のみました。Kesa roku-ji ni okite, shawaa o abite, koohii o nomimashita. (This morning I got up at six, took a shower, and had some coffee.)

Ex. 4: このイチゴはあまくておいしいですね！Kono ichigo wa amakute oishii desu ne! (These strawberries are sweet and delicious!)

Ex. 5: 週しゅう末まつは友達ともだちとサッカーをしました。それから、日に本ほん語ごの勉べん強きょうをしました。Shuumatsu wa tomodachi to sakkaa o shimashita. Sorekara, Nihon-go no benkyoo o shimashita. (On the weekend, I played soccer with my friends. And I studied Japanese.)

An image to have the viewer to make a sentence with the particle “to" — My oldest fountain pen / 一番古い万年筆

Ex. 6: この万年筆まんねんひつは父ちちのプレゼントで、とても古ふるいです。Kono mannenhitsu wa chichi no purezento de, totemo hurui desu. (This fountain pen is a present from my father, and is very old.)

The case of Ex. 6 will be explained in the next post. Please continue to: [Link Coming Soon!]=> The Particle “de”.