Japanese Grammar -N5- 人と動詞 -Verbs with People-

 人と動詞     

Grammar meaning

This grammar point is used when you do something together with a specific person.

By connecting the person and the verb using the particle “と” (to), the sentence expresses that you are doing the action together with that person.

This grammar can express a stronger sense of doing something together with someone by adding the word “いっしょに” after the particle “と”.

This grammar can also be used not only with people, but also with animals, groups, or any other nouns that you can do something together with.

Example sentence

・お母かあさんといっしょにこうえんへ行いきました。

　I went to the park with my mother.

・来週らいしゅう、友ともだちとサッカーをします。

　I will play soccer with my friend next week.

・毎日まいにち、ペットの犬いぬといっしょにさんぽしています。

　I go for a walk with my pet dog every day.

Additional notes

We won’t go into detail this time, but the particle “と” is also used to mean “and” in English.

This is different from the grammar point we are focusing on now, so please be careful.

For example, in the sentence “山田やまださんと小林こばやしさんといっしょにえいがをみます”, the first “と” between “山田やまださんと小林こばやしさん” means “and”, while the second “と” in “小林こばやしさんといっしょに” means “with”.

Also, when you go somewhere alone and not with someone else, use the phrase “一人ひとりで”.

・Q:だれといっしょに本を読みましたか。

　A:一人で本を読みました。

　Q: Who did you read the book with?
　A: I read the book alone.

Conversation example

先生せんせい：きのう何なにをしましたか。

学生がくせい：レストランへ行いきました。

先生せんせい：いいですね。だれといっしょに行いきましたか。

学生がくせい：となりのクラスのリンさんと行いきました。

先生せんせい：何なにを食たべましたか。

学生がくせい：わたしはラーメンを、リンさんはハンバーグを食たべました。

先生せんせい：リンさんといっしょにかえりましたか。

学生がくせい：いいえ、一人ひとりでかえりました。

For Japanese Teachers

This grammar point is relatively easy to introduce in class.

One thing to be careful about is not to confuse it with other uses of the particle “と”.

However, if you are teaching this usage first, there is no need to mention the other meanings at this stage.

Instead, it is sufficient to address the differences when introducing the other uses later on.

Although the expression “一人ひとりで” is also introduced here, it belongs to a different grammatical category.

If you are concerned about teaching multiple grammar points at once, you may choose to omit it.

That said, in my experience, including it in the same lesson is often beneficial, as it helps broaden the range of expressions students can use and requires little additional effort to introduce.