How to say “and” in Chinese: 和, 与, 跟, 同 and 以及

In this post I will cover 和hé (hé), 与yǔ (yǔ), 跟gēn (gēn), 同 (tóng) and 以yǐ及jí (yǐjí), all of which means they are ways of saying “and” in Chinese.

What is the difference between 和, 与, 跟, 同 and 以及?

和hé, 与yǔ, 跟gēn and 以yǐ及jí mean “and”. More accurately these are called conjunctions, which mean they join words or phrases. Generally 和hé, 跟gēn and 同tóng can be used interchangeably, with 以及 being an exception as it can only be used to join phrases or clauses. Here is a brief summary of the differences:

• 和hé (hé) is more general and informal.
• 与yǔ (yǔ) is more formal and used in abstract situations. It is not not normally used in day-to-day speech.
• 跟gēn (gēn) is less formal and more commonly used with similar things and especially people, it is preferred by Northern Chinese.
• 同tóng (tóng) is preferred by Southern Chinese. 同 cannot be used to join clauses.
• 以yǐ及jí (yǐjí) is used to join for phrases or clauses not words.

Some phrases naturally use one form of conjunction over another, take for example “black and white”, which could be written as 黑hēi和hé白bái (hēi hé bái) or 黑hēi与yǔ白bái (hēi yǔ bái), both can be understood as black and white, however by Googling you will see roughly ten times the number of results for 黑hēi与yǔ白bái (4 million) than 黑hēi和hé白bái (400 hundred thousand).

It is not always the case that you need to use a conjunction, that is “and’, as you would in English. Extending the example of “black and white”, it is commonly written as literally “black white” 黑hēi白bái (hēibái) and if you Google this you will see 175 million results, meaning that not placing “and” between “black and white” is the most common form. What does this mean? Simply put, you can’t just translate phrases and grammar directly from English to Chinese, or any other language for that matter. There are differences that you can only learn through experience.

Let’s look 和hé, 与yǔ, 跟gēn, 同tóng and 以yǐ及jí in more detail:

How to use 和 in Chinese

和hé (hé) is the most general and common form of “and”, it is normally one of the first words that those new to Chinese learn.

Here are some examples of 和hé:

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations
pen and paper	笔bǐ和hé纸zhǐ	bǐ hé zhǐ
knife and fork	刀dāo和hé叉chā	dāo hé chā
big and small	大dà和hé小xiǎo	dàhé xiǎo
Xiao Ming and Lao Wang	小xiǎo明míng和hé老lǎo王wáng	xiǎomíng hé lǎo wáng
you and me	你nǐ和hé我wǒ	nǐ hé wǒ

As you can see from the last example of “you and me” 你nǐ和hé我wǒ (nǐ hé wǒ), 和hé can be used to join pronouns, that is it can join “you”, “me’, “she”, “they” ,etc.

How to use 与 in Chinese

与yǔ (yǔ) is a more formal way of saying “and” and is commonly used in written Chinese. Here are some examples:

• 父fù与yǔ子zi (fù yǔ zi) father and son
• 资zī产chǎn与yǔ负fù债zhài (zīchǎn yǔ fùzhài) assets and liabilities
• 领lǐng带dài与yǔ上shàng衣yī (lǐngdài yǔ shàngyī) tie and jacket

How to use 跟 in Chinese

跟gēn (gēn) means “and” however it is more commonly used with people and carries the meaning of “to follow” or “to go with”.

Let’s contrast some sentences where we substitute 和hé with 跟gēn:

BBoobb跟gēnMMaarryy去qù	BBoobb和héMMaarryy去qù
Bob gēn Mary qù	Bob hé Mary qù
Bob went with Mary	Bob and Mary went

In the above sentence you could translate 跟gēn as “and”, however “with” is more appropriate. A跟gēnB indicates that person A is following person B and more specifically conveys the sense that person B was going and A is going along with them.

Let’s look at another example

我wǒ跟gēn女nǚ朋péng友you住zhù在zài一yī起qǐ	我wǒ和hé女nǚ朋péng友you住zhù在zài一yī起qǐ
wǒ gēn nǚ péngyǒu zhù zài yīqǐ	wǒ hé nǚ péngyǒu zhù zài yīqǐ
I live with my girlfriend	My girlfriend and I live together

In the above example, 跟gēn implies I live with my girlfriend, that perhaps she pays the rent or I moved in with her. When the sentence is written with 和hé it implies equals, so my girlfriend and I live together, we both pay the rent, it’s our place.

How to use 同 in Chinese

As previously mentioned, 同tóng (tóng) is used in Southern China and this is probably because it is commonly used in Cantonese, which is spoken in the South of China. 同tóng is less commonly used in Mandarin, but is essentially equivalent to 和, for example:

• 我wǒ同tóng爸bà爸ba去qù公gōng园yuán (wǒ tóng bàba qù gōngyuán) I went with my Dad to the park
• 我wǒ和hé爸bà爸ba去qù公gōng园yuán (wǒ hé bàba qù gōngyuán) I went with my Dad to the park

同tóng (tóng) does imply following as 跟gēn (gēn) does – see my 跟gēn (gēn) examples above – however perhaps not to the same extent.

同tóng ( tóng) is also used to form other words where its meaning being “same”. Here are a few examples

• 同tóng时shí (tóngshí) means to do something at the same time. To use 同tóng时shí (tóngshí) you simply place to two actions of phrases directly after 同时.

我wǒssttrroonngg>>同tóng时shí//ssttrroonngg>>看kàn电diàn视shì做zuò功gōng课kè

wǒ tóngshí kàn diànshì zuò gōngkè

I watch TV and do homework at the same time

Note that above 电diàn视shì (diànshì) means “television” and (gōngkè) means “homework”

• 同tóng样yàng (tóngyàng) means “similar”, which has a similar meaning to 一yī样yàng (yīyàng), for example

她tā有yǒussttrroonngg>>同tóng样yàng//ssttrroonngg>>的de爱ài好hào	她tā有yǒussttrroonngg>>一yī样yàng//ssttrroonngg>>的de爱ài好hào
tā yǒu tóngyàng de àihào	tā yǒu yīyàng de àihào
She has the same hobbies	She has the same hobbies

Note that above 爱ài好hào (àihào) means hobbies

• 同tóng is used for other words which carry the meaning of being the same, such as:
  • colleague 同tóng事shì (tóngshì)
  • classmate 同tóng学xué (tóngxué)

How to use 以及 in Chinese

以yǐ及jí (yǐjí) cannot be used to connect individual items, thus the following are examples of where using 以yǐ及jí (yǐjí) is not appropriate:

• “apples and bananas” 苹píng果guǒ以yǐ及jí香xiāng蕉jiāo (píngguǒ yǐjí xiāngjiāo)
• “knife and fork” 刀dāo以yǐ及jí叉chā (dāo yǐjí chā)

In the above examples, 和hé (hé) would have been an appropriate, that is:

• “apples and bananas” 苹píng果guǒ和hé香xiāng蕉jiāo (píngguǒ hé xiāngjiāo)
• “knife and fork” 刀dāo和hé叉chā (dāo hé chā)

The correct use of 以yǐ及jí is for connecting phrases or clauses, here are some examples:

• “What time do you leave and what time do you arrive?” 你nǐ什shén么me时shí候hou离lí开kāi以yǐ及jí什shén么me时shí候hou到dào？? (nǐ shénme shíhòu líkāi yǐjí shénme shíhòu dào)
• “Holey socks and ripped pants” 孔kǒng袜wà子zi以yǐ及jí破pò裤kù子zi (kǒng wà zǐ yǐjí pò kùzi)
• “How much TV do you want and why?” 你nǐ多duō少shǎo时shí间jiān看kàn电diàn视shì，,和hé为wèi什shén么me？? (nǐ duōshǎo shíjiān kàn diànshì, hé wèishéme?)
• ”this depends on your weight, height and age” 这zhè取qǔ决jué于yú你nǐ的de体tǐ重zhòng，,身shēn高gāo和hé年nián龄líng (zhè qǔjué yú nǐ de tǐzhòng, shēngāo hè niánlíng)

In all of the above examples, you could substitute 以yǐ及jí (yǐjí) for 和hé (hé) and the sentence would still be correct:

• “What time do you leave and what time do you arrive?” 你nǐ什shén么me时shí候hou离lí开kāi和hé是shì那nà么me时shí候hou到dào？? (nǐ shénme shíhòu líkāi hé shì nàme shíhòu dào)
• “Holey socks and ripped pants” 孔kǒng袜wà子zi和hé破pò裤kù子zi (kǒng wàzi hé pò kùzi)
• “How much TV do you want and why?” 你nǐ多duō少shǎo时shí间jiān看kàn电diàn视shì，,和hé为wèi什shén么me？? (nǐ duōshǎo shíjiān kàn diànshì, hé wèishéme?)
• ”This depends on your weight, height and age” 这zhè取qǔ决jué于yú你nǐ的de体tǐ重zhòng，,身shēn高gāo和hé年nián龄líng (zhè qǔjué yú nǐ de tǐzhòng, shēngāo hé niánlíng)

Summary

In summary I suggest this approach for Chinese learners:

• If in doubt use 和hé (hé)
• Use 与yǔ (yǔ) for written communications
• Use 跟gēn (gēn) when you want to show that one person is “following” another person.
• 以yǐ及jí (yǐjí) is a good alternative to 和 when stating phrases of conjunctions, but 和 can be used and is often used instead
• 同tóng (tóng) is mostly used by Southern Chinese speakers, but you should not force yourself to use it as that can come across as being unnatural.

I hope this is useful, and please feel free to leave feedback.