Compound Sentences

Vocabulary

1. リンゴ – apple
2. バナナ – banana
3. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
4. お金 【お・かね】 – money
5. すみません – excuse me, sorry
6. これ – this
7. それ – that
8. コーヒー – coffee
9. 紅茶 【こう・ちゃ】 – black tea
10. 犬 【いぬ】 – dog
11. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat

There are several ways to combine sentences in Japanese. We already learned the Te-form for sequences. Here are other methods.

Expressing “And” with と

The particle と connects nouns.

リンゴとバナナ。 - Apple and banana.
犬と猫がいる。 - There is a dog and a cat.
コーヒーと紅茶を飲んだ。 - I drank coffee and tea.

Note: You cannot use と to connect sentences or verbs.

Expressing “But” with が and けど

Attach が or けど to the end of a clause to mean “but”. が is more formal, けど is more casual.

Examples

行きたいけど、お金がない。 - I want to go, but I have no money.
すみませんが、分かりません。 - Excuse me, but I don't understand.
日本語は難しいけど、面白い。 - Japanese is difficult, but interesting.

Expressing “Or” with か

これかそれ。 - This or that.
コーヒーか紅茶。 - Coffee or tea.
今日か明日。 - Today or tomorrow.