Which "and" to use?

[dukey13]

I have seen alot of explanations explaining which "and" to use so I hoped that someone here might be able to (in the most simplest terms) explain which one to use when.

[Jason]

Well, there are quite a few way to express the concept of "and." And they all differ depending on things like are you "anding" nouns or verbs, are you expressing a sequence of events, etc. Did you have a particular kind of "and" in mind?

[riku7]

There is a different "and" when you have a list of....

doings (verbs)
descriptions (ajectives)
things (nouns)


When you have a list of things, you should use the particle to. と

tsukue to isu to mado ga arimasu.
there's a table, chair and a window.

You can also use ya や when telling a list of nouns;
tsukue ya isu ya mado ga arimasu.

Then the meaning becomes, "there's a table, chair and a window (and other untitled stuff)". やindicates that you're only listing some of the things among everything.
However, this is just an optional particle you might want to use.


With adjectives.
You need the -te form for every adjective of the list, and the last adjective is in the basic form.
With i-adjectives you replace the last -i with -kute.
utsukushii>utsukushikute
aoi>aokute
hiroi>hirokute

With na-adjective you replace the last -na with -de.
heiwana>heiwade
kireina>kireide
kikenna>kikende

And this is how you can do lists...

sora wa utsukushikute aokute hiroi.
the sky is beautiful, blue and wide.

heiwade kireide kiken da/desu.
is peaceful, beautiful and dangerous.

Same when you mix na and i adjectives. You need the -te form for everything else but the last one:

oishikute akakute kireide furui.
tasty, red, beautiful and old.

(okay, don't ask me what thing could have all those features, but I'm just giving you examples here.)


With verbs you also need the -te form of the verb.

ie ni kaette tabemashita.
I returned home and ate.

If you'd like to say "a and b and c were some of the things I did"
you could use the -tari form.

natsuyasumi ni wa oyoidari, aruitari, ryokou shitari shimasu.
in the summer holidays I things like swimming, walking and traveling.

you ALWAYS need to end the -tari -tari -tari thing with suru, even though the last verb had already been shitari, like in this example.

[tintinium]

そして、「そして」もつかけます。
(And, you can also use soshite.)

Soshite is akin to And... and is only used at the beginning of a sentence. It may help to think of it more like "Also..." so as not to confuse things.

You can also use さらに　which can be translated as "Additionally" or "In Addition"