If you are learning Japanese, you will know the very useful conjunction to と.

You will know that it is used to mean “and” and “with”. For example, ハムと卵 (hamu to tamago), ham and eggs, or ともだちと, (tomodachi to), with friends.

But I’ve just been learning how to use と to say that an action has a result. OK, that’s a bit vague so here are some examples.

• Adding soy (sauce) makes (the food) salty
• Eating something sweet will make you less tired

So how do we write that?

The pattern is this: Verb in the dictionary – or short – form + to + verb describing the effect.

Here are the two examples I gave, first in romaji and then in hiragana:

• shouyu wo kakeru to shoppai desu.
  • しょうゆをかけるとしょっぱいです。
• amai mono wo taberu to tsukare ga toreru rashii to.
  • あまいものをたべるとつかれがとれるらしいよ。

So that’s my grammar point revised and now you know it too!