N5 Topics
L2: This and/or That
Make lists of nouns in a variety of ways
This and/or That
In this Topic, we're going to learn a couple of ways to list and group things in Japanese. Also, we’ll deepen our understanding of particles.
We'll take a look at the と particle being used to mean something like 'and', and also see the か particle being used to mean something like 'or'. In both cases, we’re just presenting several different things that exist with the same level of importance in the overall sentence.
Grammar in this Topic
と
And
と is a particle that is often thought of as meaning 'and' in English, which is usually how it can be translated. In a broader sense, と simply shows that there is a relationship of 'compilation' between (A) and (B). That relationship could be existing together (translated as 'and'), or performing an action together (translated as 'with').
In this case, we will focus on the 'and' translation. A full description of と as 'with' can be found here.
と is required after every noun that it is grouped with. However, the last と in a sentence will often be omitted, if there are several.
In this example, we can see that the last noun in the group (pencil) does not require the particle と, although it is considered more correct to have it. In conversation, the last と will almost always be omitted.
か
Or
One of the common uses of the particle か is often translated to 'or' in English. While this translation is accurate, it is not actually any different from か's regular usage as a question marker.
From these examples, we can see that, in Japanese, か is performing the same role that a question mark would, or that a change in tone of voice would in spoken language.
'Would you like tea? coffee?' (said with a rising tone).
This nuance of か can be used after the dictionary form of almost any word in Japanese. However, using です or ます will change the nuance from 'presenting possibilities', to 'asking a formal question', so should be avoided.
Details
Now that we know a couple of ways to list things, let's take a deeper dive into the logic of listing in Japanese.
How Exhausting!
Although と can be translated as 'and', its usage is stricter than the English 'and'. It makes an 'exhaustive list'. This means that everything marked by と makes up the entire list, with no exceptions.
To make an incomplete or open-ended list, we can use the particle や or とか, both of which we will learn more about in future Topics so do not need to be remembered for now.
Mixing and Matching
Although と and か can both be used to make sorts of lists, we aren't forced to choose one or the other. We can combine them to create more complex structures.
All the nouns joined together by と become a single noun phrase, so they can be treated like one big noun. It is like creating a set. Then we can use か to offer a choice between those sets.
Never Ending Homework
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お父さん:「今日は金曜日だ!映画を見る?」
トム:「僕は映画を見ないよ。これは学校の宿題。」
お父さん:「それは音楽の教科書と漢字のノートと英語の本?」
トム:「そう。これは月曜日の宿題。土曜日と日曜日は野球の練習だ。」
お父さん:「あれは?レポート?」
トム:「あ!!あれも!シチューかサラダかステーキを作る宿題。」
お父さん:「お父さんが明日シチューを作るよ!」
トム:「ありがとう、お父さん!僕は漢字の練習を始めます!」