What is the common form of "and"?

[KotoKokopelli]

I'm learning basic Japanese, and I'm having a hard time finding the word for "and". I heard that "soshite" and "ken" are two words for and.

How would you use and in a Japanese sentence? Does it go in between two nouns, like in English?

Like "Red AND Yellow"?


Any help is appreciated!

[Pheonix1337]

to (t-oh) thats the japanese word for and. Akai to kiiroi (red and yellow)

[MMM]

For nouns the word for and is TO　（と）. But keep in mind that and is used differently in Japanese than English (kinda like "I" and "you").

TO (と）　isn't used for adjectives and verbs.

Like "I went the the convenience story and then to school" would be

コンビニに行って、それから学校に行きました。　or
コンビニに行って、そうして学校に行きました。　or
コンビニに行ってから、学校に行きました。　or
コンビニに行って、学校に行きました。

The subtle differences are there, but they basically mean the same thing.

For adjectives (い) you would say for example, dark　暗い and quiet 静か

暗くて静か

For adjectives (な） you would say for example quiet 静か and dark 暗い

静かで暗い

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Pheonix1337

to (t-oh) thats the japanese word for and. Akai to kiiroi (red and yellow)

Sorry, can't use TO with i-adjectives.

red and yellow

akakute kiiroi

[Seiryuu]

Ken? Haven't heard of that one...

Most common is "to", but "ya" can also be used as an "and."

And as mentioned before, i-adjectives cannot be joined by "to" (or "ya"). When you turn them into nouns, though...

[koneko2]

Originally Posted by Seiryuu

Ken? Haven't heard of that one...

Most common is "to", but "ya" can also be used as an "and."

And as mentioned before, i-adjectives cannot be joined by "to" (or "ya"). When you turn them into nouns, though...

Ya is used when you have to list more than 2 nouns.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by koneko2

Ya is used when you have to list more than 2 nouns.

Ya is used when you want to say "and like" more than "and"

For example, "I like horror and sci-fi and action movies"

you use "to"

"I like movies horror and sci-fi and action movies" but aren't exclusive to theose three genres then

"ya"

[MMM]

Originally Posted by koneko2

Ya is used when you have to list more than 2 nouns.

Ya is used when you want to say "and like" more than "and"

For example, "I like horror and sci-fi and action movies"

you use "to"

"I like movies horror and sci-fi and action movies" but aren't exclusive to those three genres then

"ya"

[koneko2]

Originally Posted by MMM

Ya is used when you want to say "and like" more than "and"

For example, "I like horror and sci-fi and action movies"

you use "to"

"I like movies horror and sci-fi and action movies" but aren't exclusive to those three genres then

"ya"

I am not 100% sure if I get what you mean.

But from what I am guessing, I disagree with it. You are suggesting that it has to refer to something that is an approximate description of the noun?

For example,

そこに　ペンや鉛筆やノートがあります。

For the above, you can use と too, but when it gets to more than 3, using to will make the sentence look clumsy.

[MMM]

I am sorry, I wasn't clear.

"I like Japanese and Chinese food"

和食と中華が好きです。

It sounds like you like Japanese and Chinese food exclusively.

和食や中華が好きです。

"I like things like Japanese and Chinsese food."

It sounds like you are into Japanese and Chinese food, but probably other Asian foods which are similar, too.

That's the difference.