と共に とともに - Grammar Discussion

English translation:
together with
at the same time
as well as

Structure:
Verb + と共に
Noun + と共に
いAdj + と共に
なAdj + である + と共に

View on Bunpro

Is it possible to include a review sentence for the na adj?
Thanks in advance!

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Hey :grin:
The example using な adjective has been added :grin:

Thanks for the suggestion!

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Fast as always! On a weekend too!?!?

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:grin:

What’s the difference between using と共に, 一緒に, and と in the “together with” sense?

@eefara

It’s really easy if you look at which fundamental part of speech each one is and what they do to the sentence.

Let’s look at the following sentence:

轟音と共にジェット機が飛び去った。
A jet flew off with a roaring sound.

と共に is a set phrase, and it’s only used in writing or formal speech. In this context it means that the two went alongside each other.

If we replace that part with と and 一緒に:

轟音ジェット機が飛び去った。
A jet flew and a roaring sound flew off.

と is a particle, so it would be connecting the two nouns, the sentence now means that both the jet and the roaring sound flew off as separate entities, but it’s a little weird since sounds don’t really fly.

轟音一緒にジェット機が飛び去った。
This one is hard to translate because it would be ungrammatical.

Consider this:
一緒に is an adverb, so it’s modifying what comes after it, but it’s usually mostly used about yourself and present company.

I hope I didn’t confuse you further!

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No, this is extremely helpful! Thank you so much for the extensive explanations!

Hello!

In the example:
心身とともに 健康だ。
The translation is shown as:
I am healthy physically, as well as mentally.

However, I cannot fathom how the sentence work structurally.
心身 means “Mind and body”
とともに “as well” or “at the same time”
健康だ is “Healthy” + the plain copula

So とともに is supposed to join two things in a sentence, however 心身 is a single concept and the sentence is joining it to 健康; basically couldn’t this mean “mind and body as well healthy”? However the translation hints that grammatically the sentence is breaking apart the kanji 心身 to こころ and み.

Could someone throw me a bone here please?

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This might be one と too many. I know 心身ともに as an expression that means that what follows applies to both mind and body.

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Oh, so 心身ともに is like a set phrase that probably stems from the とともに of this grammar point thus was added?
I think this page elaborates on what you said.

Thank you! :grinning:

Came here to query the same sentence. The point about 心身ともに being a set phrase is very interesting, but I’m still none the wiser as to whether the translation to the original sentence is strictly correct (or whether the original sentence would read awkwardly to a native japanese speaker).

The 日本語の森 video shows examples where と共に can be replaced with と一緒に and where it cannot. Now, there have been multiple questions on this topic in this thread. I have also used 一緒 に several times in my answers to this grammar point and always gotten ✗. Of course, I >think< I am always using in the right contact where these are interchangable :wink: but I don’t really know without consulting a native speaker.

May I be as bold as to suggest that you catch it when the user enters と一緒に and use it as a teaching opportunity. You can give the appropriate feedback:

a) good job, this fits here but we are looking for something that can also mean “at the same time, as well as”
b) sorry, this doesn’t fit because it means “together with”. Think of “at the same time, as well as”

This might help reinforce the overlap and difference between the two phrases.

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I’ve taken your suggestion to the content team. I agree its a good idea!