Quote:
Originally Posted by Umihito
I'm pushing forward to sitting level N4 in the JLPT, yet I have an embarrassing secret... I still haven't quite grasped which word for 'and' to use, and when.
My ex-tutor gave me the words for 'and', and briefly explained a situation to use each, but I never quite fully understood. The ones I can remember on the top of my head are:
と - I heard this was the general word for 'and'. He also said something about と or も being used depending on if you're giving a list of things, or just one or two... but I don't know which he said was used for which. Would it be '___ と ___ と ___ と ___。' or '___ も ___ も ___ も ___。'?
も - He said this literally meant 'also', so I think this one is simple enough, but when he used it in examples it seemed to be in strange places, such as 'ナイフもフォオク', which would be 'knife also fork'. I know it's a sin to think in English when speaking Japanese, but does this make sense? Is it right?
し - I don't understand this one at all... I'll need help with this one ^^;
くて - I heard this one is used for adjectives such as 'おいしい', turning it to 'おいしくて ______'. Is this right? If so, what do you use for adjectives that don't end in 'いい'?
If there are any ones I've forgotten, please mention them. 
Oh, also I just want to check I know these two words for 'but' properly too:
が - General word for 'but' that can be used in most cases, such as after です and います / あります.
でも - Is this only used at the beginning of a sentence, as a kind of 'add on'? Or is there certain places this should be used more than けど?
けど - I used this every time after だ and です and basically any sentence that I knew I was going to continue from without pause after the です etc. |
Ok, if I remember this right.....
You use と to give an exhaustive list. As in 私のかばんの中に、ペンとノートとけいたいがありま す。 i have a pen, a notebook and a mobile in my bag and ~nothing else~.
も is a kind of also, yes.
A: ぺんがありますか？
B：はい、持ってきました。ノートもレコーダもありま� �。
A: Do you have a pen?
B: yes, I bought one. I have a note pad and a recorder too.
The difference being that も sometimes replaces other particles, like が in the above sentence.
し is used for listing reasons.
先生：どうして先週の授業にきませんでした？
生徒：すみません、熱がありましたし、雨が多いし、宿 題を忘れしまいましたし、きませんでした。
Teacher: Why didn't you come to class last week?
Student: I'm sorry, I didn't come as I had a fever and it was raining a lot and I forgot my homework.
って／て is used for listing adjectives or linking sentences. It's not strictly an 'and'.
ア：このケーキは安くて、おいしいので、すきです！
I like this cake cause it's cheap and tasty!
A: 昨日、公園にいって、ベースボールした。
Yesterday, I went to the park 'n' played baseball. (technically this should be たり＋する eg: 昨日、公園に行ったり、べーすぼーるしたり、あそぶし ました。yesterday I did stuff like go to the park, play baseball and mess around.)
There's a great book called All about Japanese particles I really really recommend. It's easy to use and it gives really clear explanations of how to use this language.