Grammar › Particles › と / や
と / や — "and"
Two ways to say "and". と gives the whole list (and also means "with"); や gives a sample of it — "things like A and B".
The short version
と lists things exhaustively — "A and B", and that's all of them. や lists them non-exhaustively — "A and B (among others)", implying the list goes on; it often ends with など ("etc."). Both join nouns only.
犬と猫 — a dog and a cat (exactly those two)
犬や猫（など） — dogs, cats and the like (a sample)
と — the complete list
Use と when you mean these and only these. Here it joins two names into one pair:
織姫と彦星の話が有名です
The tale of Orihime and Hikoboshi is famous. (と = the full pair)
と also means "with"
The same と marks the person you do something together with — usually alongside 一緒に ("together"):
お父さんと一緒に剣道やった。
I did kendo together with my dad. (と = with)
私は両親と一緒に行きました。
I went together with my parents. (と = with)
や — a sample of a longer list
や names a couple of representative items and leaves the rest implied — "things like these". It pairs naturally with など:
大阪や東京などの大きい街があります
There are big cities like Osaka and Tokyo. (や…など = and others)
でも虫や鳥、動物
But bugs, birds, animals (and so on)… (や = a partial list)
Watch out
と = "all of them", や = "some of them". 犬と猫がいる says there's a dog and a cat, full stop. 犬や猫がいる says there's a dog, a cat, and probably other animals too.
🗣 In casual speech, listing is usually とか. Instead of や, conversation leans on 〜とか〜とか ("…and stuff like…") — 「中学校とか高校とか」. Unlike と/や it can also follow verbs, which makes it the go-to for loose spoken lists.
Next: も — also → · か — questions & "or" → · All grammar
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