Usage of と in the end of a sentence


I'm watching Tanya the evil to learn some more complicated kanji and speech,
and this one sentence I don't understand completely the usage of と in the
sentence “つまりは勝利をめざさないと”. The translation that's given says "In other words,
You wouldn't try to win?". Is と used to make a question? From what I know
about the usage of と, it's used to imply something in an If/Then format.




つまりは勝利をめざさないと can be interpreted in two ways:

  1. つまりは「勝利をめざさない」と(言っているのか)。  
So, you are saying "I won't try to win"(, huh?)

  2. つまりは勝利をめざさないと(いけない)。  
So, you must try to win.

If 1 is correct, と is a **quotative particle** without an explicit
corresponding verb like 言っている or 考えている. That is, と implies 勝利をめざさない is someone
else's statement (in this case, "your" statement).

If 2 is correct, と is a **conditional particle** , and ないと means "if not" as a
whole. As you probably know, Japanese negative-if's commonly mean "have to" by
themselves without explicitly saying the corresponding main clause.

> 行かないと。  
>  = 行かなければ。  
>  = 行かなくては。  
>  = 行かなくちゃ。  
>  = I must go. / I gotta go.

I can't tell which is the correct interpretation without the context and the
audio source. There is usually a small pause before と if it's 1. Either way, と
is **not** a question particle by itself.

