I have read about the different uses of the different particles in Japanese
but often become confused as to how it should be translated in different
sentences. In other words the actual intent of the particle sometimes looks
ambigious to me. Now the particle と has atleast these four uses:

```

    1) Quotation particle. It could be quoting a thought or speach.
    2) Conditional particle. It expresses natural cause and effect statements only.
    3) List of things. It can be used to express the word "and" for an exhaustive list of things.
    4) With. Expressing relationship between two things, translated as "with" in English.
    
```

Now often I get confused which way the particle is being used when we have
sentence before and also after the particle.

If I have just one sentence ending verb after the particle like
書く、思う、話す、言う、then I know we are quoting something. If we have list of nouns
seperated by と then we know that here we have an exhaustive list of things.
The problem is that while this is true, the particle is used in more complex
situations as well with in paragraphs and then sometimes I cannot make out how
to translate it.

Could you elaborate on how to know for sure which way the particle is being
used?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-10T12:01:02.983
15363
2014-05-13T05:56:09.253
2014-05-13T05:56:09.253
125
3441
question
particles particle-と ambiguity
Confusion with Japanese particle と in its multiple uses
You're 90% there. Let's take your list in order, shall we?

**1. Quotation Particle**

As you noted, if you see it followed by a verb indicating expression
(思う、言う、話す, etc.) then it's being used in this manner.

**2. Conditional Particle**

The following sentence is the way I was taught to use this one:

> 秋になると、葉が落ちる。 "When autumn comes, the leaves fall."

In other words, it's used to join two sentences and follows the dictionary
form of the verb. What happens in the second sentence must be a direct
consequence of what happened in the first.

**3. List of Things**

A more exhaustive answer for this one can be found
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/14979/difference-
between-%E3%81%A8%E3%83%BB%E3%82%84-and-%E3%82%82-for-lists), but the short of
it is like you said, if you see several nouns grouped together by と then this
is the most likely usage. Also, the last item in the group usually takes the
same particle that a single item would have taken, on behalf of the group. So,
for example:

> 八百屋【やおや】で林檎【りんご】とニンジンとピーマンを買【か】うつもり。

ピーマン takes を because if we were buying just one item we would have used を. と
is then used between everything else on the list.

**4. With**

Often with this usage one item is expressed independently using は, after which
other people or items are added to the group. For example:

> 私は武【たけし】と東京へ行った。 "I went to Tokyo _with Takeshi_."

I'm using と in this sentence to add Takeshi to the group. Additional people
can also be included using `XとYと...`, but beyond two it can start sounding a
bit ridiculous.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-10T12:18:01.787
15364
2014-05-12T15:42:53.130
2017-04-13T12:43:44.260
-1
4914
15363
answer