と Particle (Exhaustive Listing)

と Particle (Exhaustive Listing) Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Particle

Essential Meaning: And

Construction: 

• Noun と Noun
  • E.g. ミルクとジュース [Milk and juice]

Notes:

• と (Exhaustive listing) is used to list nouns and noun phrases exhaustively. For example, the sentence 「AとBが好すきだ」means “I like A and B, and that’s all.” To make an exhaustive listing of verbs or adjectives instead of nouns, the て-Form should be used instead.
  • E.g. *ここのハンバーガーは安やすいといい。[This place’s hangers are cheap and good.] と (Exhaustive listing) cannot be used to list adjectives. The て-Form should be used instead.
  • E.g. *ウイルソンさんは日本にほんへ行いったと木村きむらさんにあった。[Mr. Wilson went to Japan and Met Kimura-san.] と (Exhaustive listing) cannot be used to list verbs. The て-Form should be used instead.
  • E.g. *マークはコンサートに行いったとクリスは映画えいがに行った。[Mark went to a concert, and Chris went to the movies.] と (Exhaustive listing) cannot be used to list verbs. The て-Form should be used instead.

• と (Exhaustive listing) is typically omitted after the final noun in the list, but it can be included optionally. Thus the listing A, B and C is most commonly written as AとBとC rather than AとBとCと.

• Note that a list of noun phrases (e.g. Noun 1 と Noun 2 と Noun 3) is itself a noun phrase and can be used anywhere that noun phrases can be used (i.e. as the subject, direct object, indirect object, et cetera).
  • E.g. マイクとジョンは学生がくせいです。[Mike and John are students.] In this example, the compound noun phrase “Mike and John” is the topic of the sentence.

• With a noun phrase such as Noun 1 と Noun 2, the relationship between Noun 1 and Noun 2 may be ambiguous without additional context. For example, in the sentence 山本やまもとさんとスミスさんはテニスをしています。[Yamamoto-san and Smith-san are playing tennis.] In this sentence, it is clear that both Yamamoto-san and Smith-san are playing tennis, but it is unclear whether or not they are playing tennis together. The sentence can be unambiguously restated with と (Reciprocal Relationship) to express the idea that the two are playing together.
  • E.g. 山本やまもとさんはスミスさんとテニスをしています。[Yamamoto-san is playing tennis with Smith-san.] In this case, the two are unambiguously playing tennis together.

• や is a similar particle used to list noun phrases in-exhaustively.
  • E.g. ミルズさんやハリスさんが来きた。[Mr. Mills and Mr. Harris came (among others).]
  • E.g. これはスプーンやフォークで食たべる。[Around here we eat with utensils such as spoons and forks (among other things).]

• The に (Existence) particle can also be used to list nouns exhaustively when one or more secondary nouns are added to a main noun (marked by に) in order to create a list of indispensable objects. In other words, the secondary nouns are implied to be indispensable aspects of or accompaniments to the main noun.
  • E.g. 毎朝まいあさみそ汁しるとご飯はんを食たべる。[I eat miso soup and rice every morning.] This sentence simply conveys an exhaustive list of things that the speaker eats every morning.
  • E.g. 毎朝まいあさみそ汁しるにご飯はんを食たべる。[I eat rice with my miso soup every morning.] This sentence implies that rice has been added to miso soup as an indispensable aspect of the speaker’s daily breakfast.
  • E.g. あの人ひとはいつも白しろいシャツと赤あかいチョッキを着きている。[That person always wears a white shirt and a red vest.]
  • E.g. あの人ひとはいつも白しろいシャツに赤あかいチョッキを着きている。[That person always wears a red vest in addition to a white shirt.] The implication is that the red vest is an indispensable addition to the white shirt.

Example Sentences:

マイクとジョンは学生がくせいです。[Mike and John are students.]

私わたしは英語えいごと日本語にほんごを話はなす。[I speak English and Japanese.]

ボブは来年らいねんドイツとフランスとスペインへ行いくつもりだ。[Bob intends to go to Germany, France, and Spain next year.]

ステーキはナイフとフォークで食たべる。[Steak is eaten with a fork and knife.]

山本やまもとさんとスミスさんがテニスをしている。[Yamamoto-san and Smith-san are playing tennis.]

日本語にほんごとトルコ語ごは似にている。[Japanese and Turkish resemble one another.]

WILD Examples:

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