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I'm confused about how と is used in this sentence (乗るとすぐメールを・・・). What purpose
does it serve?

> 電車の中では携帯で話すことはできませんが、みんな電車に乗る **と** すぐメールを熱心に打っているのにびっくりしました。
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2013-09-13T16:59:29.670
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grammar particle-と
Use of と in this sentence: 電車に乗るとすぐメールを熱心に打っている
English speaking learners of Japanese are usually first exposed to `と` as
being _something like_ "and" (though it's not _technically_ "and"), as in
`りんごとオレンジとバナナ`. However, that's just one use, and you can see some more
explanation of `と` and it's implications of _consequence_ at [the top of this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/1784/119).

`乗るとすぐメールを・・・` means roughly something like, " **when** they get on the
train...". Given the context of the longer sentence, it's saying, " **when**
they get on the train, they soon start mailing with their phone..."

It might be tempting to translate your sentence as "they get on the train
**and then** they soon mail," because that makes a certain sense in connecting
the kind of `と` in `りんごとオレンジとバナナ` with the kind of `と` in your sentence. Which
I say because that was a mistake I was making. However, "and then" would be
`そして`. In this case, this `と` in your sentence isn't a variation on the `と`
used to list things. It's just "when", as in " **when** _X_ happens, then _Y_
".

Hope that helps.
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This と means "when", not "and".

That it might make sense "in English" if you use "and" when translating the
sentence into English is of little importance as we are discussing Japanese
here.

「 (Verb phrase A) + **と + すぐ** + (Verb phrase B)」 =

"(B happens) **as soon as** (A happens)." or

"(B happens) **in no time when/whenever** (A happens)."

I am sure some of you have seen this と when it means "if". Its usage as "when"
is actually very similar to that.
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@Dave M G's comment:

Technically,

  * "they get on and soon they mail" = 乗る、そしてすぐにメールを打つ
  * "they soon mail when they get on" = 乗るとすぐにメールを・・

And yes バナナとりんご is a "case".

English has ~~two~~ three categories of cases, [banana], [bananas] and
[banana's], and you can say (1)"I buy a banana and an apple" as well as (2)"I
buy a banana". In both sentences, the 'banana' appears as it is in common, but
you have to say "mom's apple" instead of "mom apple".

In Japanese, you have to use different noun forms even between (1) and (2),
and say "I buy a bananato and an appleto" instead of "I buy a banana and an
apple". But some parts are optional and you can reduce it into "I buy (a)
bananato (and) (an) apple/appleto". i.e. バナナと、そして、りんごとを買う → バナナと（そして）りんご（と）を買う

Likewise, although you have to say "I bought it yesterday" instead of "I buy
it yesterday", you can say (3)"if they board" as well as (4)"They board." But
in Japanese you have to use differnt verb forms even between (3) and (4), like
"if they boardto". (Japanese doesn't have any words that REALLY match 'if')

Suffix [s] as in 'thinks' and the one as in 'things' are different though they
are both [s].
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