I was learning the definition “with” of the “と” particle, and this example sentence made me think.
What I originally thought this sentence meant before looking at the English translation was “I am friends with Nana-san and Hana-san”. I thought this because in this previous example sentence…
It says that I talk with Tom, without it specifying that I am talking with him. So this made me think…if there are two nouns associated with the “と” particle instead of just one, then it has nothing to do with the speaker, but only those two nouns. Is that correct?
You’re missing the は particle in the first example. This makes ななさん the topic, so she’s the one being friends with はなさん.
In the second example there is no topic or larger context, so it’s most of the time best to assume the topic is you.
Your translation could be written like this:
ななさんとはなさんの友達です with the topic omitted, so we assume it’s you.
私はななさんとはなさんの友達です when the topic is explicit.
Edit. Wrote talking instead of being friends.
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Ah, so that’s the difference. Thank you so much!
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