Jul 5, 2009

Japanese Language Made Simpler - Lesson 16

The second particle, we are going to cover today is と, which is used to combine nouns.

The structure of the phrase will be in this form:
[object A] と [object B]
=
[object A] and [object B]

For example:
cat and dog= neko to inu = 猫と犬

Hence,
I like cats and dogs. = watashi wa neko to inu ga suki desu. = 私は猫と犬が好きです。
(to form 'like' and 'dislike' sentences, refer to Lesson 5)

Other examples:

  • Miss A and Mr B are good friends. = A san to B san wa nakayoshi desu. = A さんとBさんは仲よしです。(nakayoshi = good friends)


  • I have 3 sons and 2 daughters. = watashi wa musuko ga sannin to musume ga futari imasu. = 私は息子が三人と娘が二人います。(musuko = son; musume = daughter)