whats the difference between し and と?


I thought I knew this but it has just been explained to me in Japanese class
and now I am totally confused.

I had always thought と was "and" but apparently it more usually means "or";
when you want to use "and" you should use し at the ends of words? Is this
right?

Or is し only for reasons? Surely there are cases where its borderline if
you're giving reasons?




と does, in fact, mean "and" in most cases (the only exception I can think of
offhand would be when placed after verbs, which is _loosely_ similar to 〜ば or
〜たら). Usually it's used when you're defining a group:

> [俺]{おれ}は _[武]{たけし}と[夏美]{なつみ}と_ [東京]{とうきょう}へ[行]{い}った。 "I went to Tokyo _with
> Takeshi and Natsumi_."

or giving an exhaustive list of something:

> [八百屋]{やおや}で[林檎]{りんご}とニンジンとピーマンと[買]{か}うつもり。 "I'm planning to buy _apples,
> carrots, and peppers_ at the grocery store."

If you're not intending to give an exhaustive list, you can use や instead of と
here to imply that there's more you're not including.

し, on the other hand, is for giving reasons. For example, take the following
exchange:

> A: どうして[学校]{がっこう}に[来]{こ}なかったの？ "Why didn't you come to school?"
>
> B: [熱]{ねつ}があったし、[咳]{せき}もあったし、[宿題]{しゅくだい}がまだやってなかったしもうムリだったんだ。 "It wasn't
> possible, what with having a fever _and_ a cough, and not having done my
> homework yet, either."

As with when you're listing things with と, even the last reason in the list
should have し after it before going into the explanation, if presented. That
said, し doesn't have to be for giving a long list of excuses; it's fine to use
it to give just a single reason, like in the response below:

> B: [行]{い}きたくなかったし・・・ "Because I didn't want to..."

