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Is it true there is noway to say "and" in Japanese?

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King-Kai91

PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:17 pm


I have heard there the word "and" does not exsist in Japan is this true?
PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:51 pm


Yes and no?

There's no exact equivalent that you can use in every situation that you would use the word "and". But there's always a way to say what you mean.

For instance, if you want to link together a series of nouns ("apples and oranges"), then you use the particle と. But this only-- this is important-- only applies if you are linking nouns. That's because と literally means "with".

To link verbs ("eat and run"), you would convert all the verbs in the sequence except for the last into the -て form. The conjugation on the last verb on the list will carry over to all the verbs in the sequence.

Vakruz

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wolfellie7

PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:14 am


There are certain phrases you can use to combine two sentences such as soshite and sorekara, but they have their own particular uses like "to" for nouns and "-"te" verb forms.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:59 pm


In addition to "to" and "-te" mentioned above, there's also the word "soshite" that acts as a sentence-level "and." The "-te" conjunction implies a relationship between the parts.

There's also "ya" which functions like "to" but implies that it's a non-exhaustive list.

Examples:
ringo to orenji ga suki desu. ("I like (only) apples and oranges.")
ringo ya orenji ga suki desu. ("I like apples, oranges, etc.")
asa ni hashitte yoru ni nemasu. ("I run in the morning, and (then) sleep at night.")
asa ni hashirimasu. soshite yoru ni nemasu. ("I run in the morning, and I sleep at night.")

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Katta Tsuki

PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:15 pm


I'm not too certain on this, but isn't "mo" also a way of using "and"? I'm probably wrong, considering I inferred that from indirect context clues...
PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:06 pm


Katta Tsuki
I'm not too certain on this, but isn't "mo" also a way of using "and"? I'm probably wrong, considering I inferred that from indirect context clues...


"mo" is more like "also" than "and."

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Katta Tsuki

PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:11 pm


Coda Highland
Katta Tsuki
I'm not too certain on this, but isn't "mo" also a way of using "and"? I'm probably wrong, considering I inferred that from indirect context clues...


"mo" is more like "also" than "and."


Ahhh. That explains lots of things. Stupid Rosetta Stone. >.<
PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:33 pm


Thanks for answering everyone. smile

King-Kai91


Eijay

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:46 am


you can also use shi (し). I think it only works with adjectives (I might be wrong about that...) and it implies that what is listed is only a few out of many.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:24 am


Oh, I forgot all about shi. Syntactically it connects clauses in plain form, so yes, adjectives just get used directly, but you can also use verbs.

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Eijay

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:23 pm


Coda Highland
Oh, I forgot all about shi. Syntactically it connects clauses in plain form, so yes, adjectives just get used directly, but you can also use verbs.


Thanks. I knew it was acceptable for adjectives and not nouns, but I wasn't sure about verbs.
PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:23 pm


Notes:
~し(shi) can link anything in the informal together to make a sentence. It can be translated as and, but is more or less used when giving examples/reasons towards something that will be said, or has been said.

In essence, there's Soshite and several other words that are used like beginning the sentence with the word "and" which link two or more thoughts together, though, ~te and ~de (te form of desu) are more useful (quicker) for chaining sentences together. In this sense, Soshite would be the closest equivalent word to the word and, but you would definitely not use it to mean "and" in every sentence because of it's limitations and it would DEFINITELY not sound natural to native Japanese speakers. There are other grammar forms (already mentioned in the thread) that do the function of and in the sentence already.

IdiotbyDefault
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