With と
“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” – Benjamin Franklin
Remember just a second ago when I said と should mean “with.” Well, here’s where that whole thing happens.
Let’s start this page out with some simple sentences:
田中さん は こういちさん と たべた
Tanaka ate with Koichi
ぼく は ひとみちゃん と けっこんした
I got married to Hitomi
田中さん と はなした
I spoke with Tanaka
So far so good? Make some similar sentences yourself – just change the verb.
ドナルド・マクドナルド と ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
I ________ with Ronald McDonald (Donald in Japan)
ブラッド・ピット と ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
I ________ with Brad Pitt
せんせい と ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
I ________ with the teacher / my teacher
See how simple that is? Now, there’s a little more to this than just doing something with someone else. When using the particle と like this, it can’t just be one direction, so to speak. Both parties have to be doing the same thing to each other rather than one person doing something to another person. For example:
田中さん と はなした
I spoke with Tanaka
田中さん に はなした
I spoke to Tanaka
If you remember way back when, the に particle indicates some sort of direction or movement. When you’re using に in this case, you’re taking the action to Tanaka. You’re speaking to Tanaka, in Tanaka’s direction. When you use と instead of に, however, the meaning changes. Suddenly you’re talking with Tanaka and not to Tanaka. It’s a two way street. You’re doing the speaking together (plus, this sounds nicer!).
Now we’re going to go into slightly more detail in on と as “with.” You’ll be learning a vocab word that goes together perfectly with it, and make that into a little lesson that covers that word as well as helps you to review what you just learned here.