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

************************

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

(1) It can mean “and…” after a noun

Example 1:  りんごとなしをべました。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:  ともだちとあたらしいカフェへきました。Tomodachi to atarashii kafe e ikimashita. (I went to a new café with a friend.)

2. A bit more on the particle “to” ()

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:  6きて、シャワーをびて、コーヒーをみました。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: しゅうまつ友達ともだちとサッカーをしました。それから、ほんべんきょうをしました。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ちちのプレゼントで、とてもふるいです。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”.

Related Posts

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

19 − 16 =