Conjunctions (接続詞)

You will learn how to list nouns, verbs, and adjectives in a sentence. In addition, you will discover a variety of conjunctions that show relationships between sentences.

Listing nouns with と to (exhaustive),や ya (partial), か ka (disjunctive), andも mo (addition)

Use the particle と to list two or more items exhaustively, as in A, B, and C. Place the particle after each noun you want to list, except the very last one. For example:

• ジョンさんと田中さんは学校へ行きます。John-san to Tanaka-san wa gakkou e ikimasu.  Mr. John and Mr. Tanaka are going to school.

• ミラさんとタハシャニさんとグプタさんは友達です。Mira-san to Tahashani-san to Guputa-san wa tomodachi desu.  Mira, Tahashani, and Guputa are friends.

Use the particle や ya for listing two or more items just as examples, as in A, B, C, and so on. With や ya, you can imply that there are more items in addition to the listed items. For example:

• わたしはアニメや音楽やテニスが好きです。 Watashi wa anime ya ongaku ya tenisu ga suki desu. I like anime, music, and tennis (among other things).

• 英語やフランス語やドイツ語が話せます。Eigo ya Furansugo ya Doitsugo ga hanasemasu. I can speak English, French, and German (among other languages).

Use the particle か ka for listing two or more nouns disjunctively, as in A, B, or C. For example:

• この服は姉が着るか、母が着るか知っていません。Kono fuku wa ane ga kiru ka, haha ga kiru ka shitte imasen. I don't know whether my older sister or my mother will wear these clothes.

• あの人は中国人か日本人か調べてみます。Ano hito wa Chūgokujin ka Nihonjin ka shirabete mimasu. I will try to find out whether that person is Chinese or Japanese.

For listing items as additions, as in A, B, and C, too, use も mo. In this case, the particles が ga and を o are completely dropped, and other particles such as に ni and で de are repeated after each noun. For example:

• 山も海も行きたいです。Yama mo umi mo ikitai desu. I want to go to the mountains and the sea too.

• 私は猫も犬も好きです。Watashi wa neko mo inu mo suki desu. I like both cats and dogs.

Listing verbs with te forms

To list two or more verbs in the same sentence, you need to convert them to te forms, except the last verb in the sentence. (Remember that the particle と to can list only nouns; it cannot list verbs.) Depending on the context, a list of two or more verbs in the same sentence may be random, temporally ordered, or in a cause-and-effect relationship. For example:

• 来週は休みですから、買い物をして、料理をして、洗濯をします。Raishū wa yasumi desu kara, kaimono o shite, ryōri o shite, sentaku o shimasu. Since I have time off next week, I will go shopping, cook, and do laundry.

• 昨日はテレビを見て、友達と遊んで、寝ました。Kinō wa terebi o mite, tomodachi to asonde, nemashita. Yesterday, I watched TV, played with my friends, and then went to sleep.

• 彼女と話してうれしかった。Kanojo to hanashite ureshikatta. I was happy to talk with her.

There are two kinds of negative te forms for verbs: One kind ends in なくて nakute, and the other ends in ないで nai de. The former is used to express a cause-and-effect relationship, as in 'not do... and so... '. The latter is used to mean 'not do... and then...' (without doing...) or 'not do... but do...' (instead of doing...). For example:

• 子どもが勉強しなくて遊んでばかりです。Kodomo ga benkyou shinakute asonde bakkari desu. The child doesn’t study and just plays all the time.

• 夜にちゃんと寝ないで仕事に遅刻しました。Yoru ni chanto nenai de shigoto ni chikoku shimashita. I didn’t sleep properly at night and was late for work.

• 旅行しないで仕事だけをしています。Ryokou shinaide shigoto dake o shite imasu. I’m not traveling and only doing work.

Listing adjectives with te form