How to Say And in Japanese: Four Joins, One Question

English gets by with one word. That one word joins nouns, adjectives, verbs and whole sentences, and its shape stays the same wherever it lands. Japanese has no single word that covers every one of those jobs. It has four joins instead, and the one you reach for depends on what you are joining.

So the first question isn't which word means and. It's what are you joining. Two nouns take one join, two adjectives take another, two verbs take a third, and two whole sentences take a fourth. Four joins, one question — and you can count all four in the table below.

There's a second thing to know, and it's the part that catches people out. A join in Japanese doesn't only connect two things — it's also saying something about the pair it has just made. One of them tells your listener that the list is finished and nothing was left off it. Another says these events happened in this order, and that the order is part of what you meant. That extra meaning goes out with the sentence whether you intended it or not.

None of this asks you for much new vocabulary. The joins are short words and you've probably met most of them already, which is why the memorizing is rarely the hard part here. What pays off is knowing which one the sentence in front of you is asking for, and that turns out to be a question you can answer in a second.

Ask that one question and the answer drops out. Whatever sits on either side of the join is what decides the join.

Nouns are joined by と (to) or や (ya). Adjectives are joined by くて (kute) or で (de). Verbs are joined by て (te) or たり (tari). And two full sentences are joined by a word that opens the second one — or by one that sits between them.

Here are all four in one view, with the pair you choose between in each row.

Every row holds two options, and what separates them is what the rest of this field note is about — in some rows it's your call, and in one the word in front decides for you. Start with the simplest row of the four. Two people in a family, and the list is complete:

私には兄と姉がいますわたしにはあにとあねがいます (watashinihaanitoanegaimasu)

I have an older brother and an older sister.

The last row is the crowded one, and it gets a section of its own further down, because joining two whole sentences is a different act from joining two words inside one. The first three rows all stay inside a single sentence. The fourth mostly starts a new one and then reaches back.

Both of them join nouns, and either one will be read as and. What separates them is what they say about the list they've just made.

と (to) means you've named everything there is to name. や (ya) names a couple of examples and leaves the door open for more. Look at what's in a classroom, where you can reasonably name the lot:

教室に机といすがありますきょうしつにつくえといすがあります (kyoushitsunitsukuetoisugaarimasu)

There are desks and chairs in the classroom.

Now talk about where you'd like to travel, where a full list would be silly:

海や山などへ行きたいですうみややまなどへいきたいです (umiyayamanadoheikitaidesu)

I want to go to the sea, the mountains, and places like that.

That など (nado) at the end means and so on, and it belongs with the open list. Put it after a join that has already closed the list and the sentence starts arguing with itself, because one half says these are all of them and the other half says there are more:

❌ 冷蔵庫にビールとお茶などがありますれいぞうこにビールとおちゃなどがあります (reizoukonibiirutoochanadogaarimasu)

⭕ 冷蔵庫にビールやお茶などがありますれいぞうこにビールやおちゃなどがあります (reizoukonibiiruyaochanadogaarimasu)

Two more habits are worth picking up here. と (to) sits between items rather than after the last one, and a list where every single item is spelled out sounds odd with や (ya). If you mean these two and nothing else, close it.

There's a second と (to) that looks identical and joins something else entirely. In 友だちと行きますともだちといきます (tomodachitoikimasu), it marks the person you go with, not an item on a list. The test is the question you started with. Two things of one kind, side by side in one slot, make a list; a person marked that way is your company.

An い (i)-adjective takes くて (kute), while a な (na)-adjective and a plain noun both take で (de). Sorting a word into one type or the other settles the choice for you, and that sorting is the job of the field note on adjectives.

Tense and politeness land on the last word only, so anything ahead of it stays in its plain linking shape. Two things about a cat, said at once:

あの猫は小さくて、かわいいですあのねこはちいさくて、かわいいです (anonekohachiisakute,kawaiidesu)

That cat is small and cute.

One restriction here is easy to miss: this join wants two traits pointing the same way. For cheap but cramped, Japanese reaches for けど (kedo) or が (ga) instead, and both of those turn up again below.

Two joins share this row, and what separates them is a promise.

て (te) says the actions happened in this order, and that these are all of them. The form itself is the て (te) form of the verb, which the field note on verb conjugation builds from scratch. たり (tari) makes neither of those promises: the order doesn't matter, and the two things you named are a sample of a longer list.

Here is a shop being closed for the night, and the sequence is the whole point of the sentence:

電気を消して、店を出ましたでんきをけして、みせをでました (denkiwokeshite,misewodemashita)

I turned off the lights and left the shop.

Move to a day off and the promise changes. Nothing here is in any particular order, and nobody thinks these are the only two things you did:

休日は本を読んだり、友だちに会ったりしますきゅうじつはほんをよんだり、ともだちにあったりします (kyuujitsuhahonwoyondari,tomodachiniattarishimasu)

On my days off I read, see friends, and so on.

In both patterns the tense sits at the end. The verbs in front stay as they are, and the final word decides whether the whole thing is past or present, polite or plain. Change that one ending and every action in the chain moves with it.

Same two verbs, opposite promise:

The last row of the first table is where most of the words live. Five of them share it, and they're what English speakers are usually after when they look up Japanese conjunctions.

Four of the five open a new sentence. そして (soshite) adds a second point of the same weight. それから (sorekara) adds the next thing in sequence. でも (demo) marks a contrast in everyday speech, and だから (dakara) states the result of what came before. Each of the four takes a comma, and then the rest of the sentence follows as normal. Here are two facts about yesterday's weather, given equal billing:

きのうは寒かったです。そして、風も強かったですきのうはさむかったです。そして、かぜもつよかったです (kinouhasamukattadesu.soshite,kazemotsuyokattadesu)

Yesterday was cold. And the wind was strong too.

The fifth word, が (ga), works inside a single sentence instead. Before it turns up, here's a long walk with an ending you might not expect:

たくさん歩きました。でも、あまり疲れていませんたくさんあるきました。でも、あまりつかれていません (takusan'arukimashita.demo,amaritsukareteimasen)

I walked a lot. But I'm not very tired.

Which brings up the decision this whole section turns on. Ask where the join happens. Between two sentences, it's でも (demo). Inside one, it's が (ga). A quick test: if the two halves fit in one breath, they fit in one sentence.

❌ この店は安いでも、おいしいですこのみせはやすいでも、おいしいです (konomisehayasuidemo,oishiidesu)

⭕ この店は安いですが、おいしいですこのみせはやすいですが、おいしいです (konomisehayasuidesuga,oishiidesu)

The repair isn't a change of word order or a missing particle (both of those live in the field note on sentence structure). でも (demo) simply doesn't fit inside a sentence, so the two halves need が (ga) to hold them together.

が (ga) has a habit that catches learners out, too. It doesn't have to be a contrast at all:

すみませんが、その窓を閉めてもいいですかすみませんが、そのまどをしめてもいいですか (sumimasenga,sonomadowoshimetemoiidesuka)

Excuse me, but may I close that window?

Nothing is being contradicted there. The が (ga) softens what follows, and reading it as a hard but leaves you looking for an argument that isn't in the sentence. One more note on register: in writing and formal speech, しかし (shikashi) takes over the work of でも (demo). In casual speech the same inside-the-sentence slot takes けど (kedo), which is the everyday word for the same but.

Here are the five side by side, with what each one does and how it lands in English.

Still inside that last row, three more words do a narrower job. They tie a reason to what came of it, which is how Japanese says because. The reason goes first, and that order holds.

から (kara) states the reason directly and personally. ので (node) sounds softer and more objective, which is why it suits requests, notices and apologies. Here's the message you send the office before you go home early:

頭が痛いので、早退しますあたまがいたいので、そうたいします (atamagaitainode,soutaishimasu)

I have a headache, so I'm leaving early.

Swap in the direct one and the reason stops apologizing for itself. This is the flavor you want when you're simply explaining something about yourself:

甘いものが好きだから、よくケーキを買いますあまいものがすきだから、よくケーキをかいます (amaimonogasukidakara,yokukeekiwokaimasu)

I like sweet things, so I often buy cake.

し (shi) does something neither of the other two does. It stacks reasons and hints that you could go on, so two of them quietly suggest a third:

近いし、安全だし、歩きますちかいし、あんぜんだし、あるきます (chikaishi,anzendashi,arukimasu)

It's close, and it's safe, so I'll walk.

Exactly one reason, and you mean it? Use から (kara). Several, and you'd happily add a fourth? Use し (shi) — except after your own mistake, where one reason lands better than a stack.

These three belong to the same row as the five above. They aren't a fifth thing you could be joining; they're a narrower way of joining two sentences, with the reason marked as a reason.

Which puts you back at the question you opened with. Nouns, adjectives, verbs, sentences — four things you might be joining, and what you're joining picks the join. There aren't many words to learn, and none of them are long. Get the question right first, and the word you need is usually the only one left standing.

Not one word that covers every join. と (to) comes closest, and because it deals with nouns, a dictionary will usually offer it to you first. Adjectives, verbs and whole sentences each take a different join, and borrowing と (to) for any of them produces a sentence that doesn't hold together. The version of the question that helps you is the one about what you are joining.

With と (to) if the list is finished, and や (ya) if it's a sample. と (to) between two nouns says those are all of them. や (ya) says these are examples and more could follow, and it takes など (nado) at the end for and so on. Same two nouns, two different lists — and your listener hears the difference.

Put と (to) between the two items and the whole order fits in one sentence. Ordering a drink and something to go with it:

ビールと枝豆をお願いしますビールとえだまめをおねがいします (biirutoedamamewoonegaishimasu)

A beer and edamame, please.

The join also tells the server that's the whole order, which is exactly what you want it to say.

Open the second sentence with そして (soshite) for another point of the same weight, or それから (sorekara) for the next thing in sequence. Both take a comma before the rest of the sentence. For a contrast, でも (demo) does the same job at the front of a new sentence — and it stays at the front, because the slot inside a sentence belongs to が (ga).

Ukiyoe Japanese keeps each of these joins as a lesson of its own. The one on nouns sets the same two words against each other in a single pair of sentences, so you can watch a list close and then open again with nothing else changed. The one on sentences finishes where this field note finished, by asking where the join happens. Every sentence in them has been checked. Where a form breaks, the working version is set right next to it, and you'll usually find the difference is one word wide.

Beside the lessons sits Te-form forge, a drill on the て (te) form that the verb join is built from. There's also a speaking exercise that asks you to order two things in a single sentence, which is the noun join doing its plainest work in a place you'd actually use it.