In Japanese, you often need to combine two short sentences into one longer one. For example, "Dad is a teacher" and "Mom is a doctor" — if each ends with です, you get two periods, which feels choppy. That's where で comes in.
The Problem: Two です Feels Redundant
Look at two independent sentences:
父は先生です。母は医者です。 → Dad is a teacher. Mom is a doctor.
Each ends with です and its own period. Grammatically fine, but not elegant. Japanese prefers combining them into a single sentence.
The Solution: Change the First です to で
The "conjunctive form" (中止形) of です is simply で. Replace です in the first clause with で, and the two sentences link right up:
父は先生で、母は医者です。 → Dad is a teacher, and Mom is a doctor.
Just one period now. The で in the first half means "is..., (and continuing)" — it functions like a comma.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Two Separate Sentences | Combined |
|---|---|
| 父は先生です。母は医者です。 | 父は先生で、母は医者です。 |
| Two periods | One period |
Key point: Only the last clause keeps です. All preceding clauses use で. If you have three clauses, the first two both use で.
Three Clauses Combined
父は先生で、母は医者で、兄は学生です。 → Dad is a teacher, Mom is a doctor, and my older brother is a student.
The first two use で, and only the last one gets です.
と: Connecting Nouns with "And"
Besides using で to connect sentences, Japanese uses と to connect nouns — equivalent to "and":
A と B → A and B
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 椅子と机をください。 | Please give me a chair and a desk. |
| 林さんと蔡さんは日本語の先生です。 | Lin-san and Tsai-san are Japanese teachers. |
Note: と connects nouns, not sentences. It means "A plus B."
も〜も: Parallel Listing with "Also"
Remember も (also) from the previous lesson? Use it twice to express "both A and B":
A も B も〜です。 → Both A and B are ~.
| Using と (and) | Using も〜も (both...and...) |
|---|---|
| 林さんと蔡さんは日本語の先生です。 | 林さんも蔡さんも日本語の先生です。 |
| Lin-san and Tsai-san are Japanese teachers. | Lin-san is also a Japanese teacher, and so is Tsai-san. |
The two patterns are similar in meaning but different in nuance:
- と is neutral — simply listing "A and B are ~"
- も〜も adds emphasis — "A is also ~, B is also ~" — implying the listener might not have known
The Difference Between と and も
と has an "addition" feeling: A + B, stated together. も has an "emphasis" feeling: A is also ~, B is also ~ — both the same.
For example, if someone asks "Who is a Japanese teacher?" — answering with と is a simple listing; answering with も〜も emphasizes "both of them are, you know."
Putting It All Together
Here's a short passage combining everything from the past few lessons:
ここは李さんの学校です。 → This is Li-san's school.
学校の後ろは駅です。 → Behind the school is the station.
李さんは台湾の学生です。今年25歳です。 → Li-san is a Taiwanese student. This year she's 25.
李さんの教室は五階です。 → Li-san's classroom is on the fifth floor.
先生は松本さんです。松本先生は43歳です。 → The teacher is Matsumoto-san. Matsumoto-sensei is 43 years old.
Notice the third line: 李さんは台湾の学生です。今年25歳です。 The second sentence drops 李さんは — because the subject hasn't changed, there's no need to repeat it. This is called subject omission in Japanese.
Summary
- で is the conjunctive form of です — it links noun clauses. Use で for all but the last clause, which keeps です
- と connects nouns, meaning "and": 椅子と机 = chair and desk
- も〜も means "both...and..." with emphasis: 林さんも蔡さんも先生です
- と is neutral listing; も〜も adds emphasis
- When the subject stays the same, you can omit it to keep sentences concise
Practice Questions
Q1. Say in Japanese: "My older brother is a college student, and my older sister is a teacher." (Hints: older brother = 兄/あに, older sister = 姉/あね, college student = 大学生)
Show Answer
兄は大学生で、姉は先生です。
The first clause changes です to で, then joins with the second clause ending in です.
Q2. What does 「田中さんも林さんも学生です。」 mean?
Show Answer
Both Tanaka-san and Lin-san are students.
も〜も expresses parallel emphasis: 田中さんも (also) + 林さんも (also) + 学生です (are students).
Q3. How do you say "Please give me coffee and cake" in Japanese? (Hints: coffee = コーヒー, cake = ケーキ)
Show Answer
コーヒーとケーキをください。
コーヒー (coffee) と (and) ケーキ (cake) を ください (please give me). と connects the two nouns.