What particle to use in this sentence?


I want to say “I like spending lunchtimes with Sarah.”

(Sarah is a fill-in name)

I am absolutely clueless, because I’ve only done Japanese for a semester at
school (but I plan on choosing it as a subject next year). Would I use ‘to’
and where? I know lunch is hirugohan, but I’ve heard a variety of answers?

(Kanji and romaji are both fine.)

Some help would be much appreciated!

Arigatou gozaimasu!




You're right that you use と for "with".

"[do ~~] with Sarah" → 「セーラ **と** [～～する]」

"Lunch" is [昼]{ひる}ごはん, but for "lunchtime" I think you can use 「ランチタイム」,
「(お)[昼休]{ひるやす}み」 (literally "lunch break". The お is a polite prefix), or maybe
「[昼休憩]{ひるきゅうけい}」.

I think you can say...

> 「セーラと｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝を[過]{す}ごすのが[好]{す}きです。」,  
>  「｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝は、セーラと過ごすのが好きです。」, or  
>  「｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝(に)は、セーラと[一緒]{いっしょ}にいるのが好きです。」

etc., depending on the context.

The の in 過ごす **の** が・いる **の** が is a nominalizer. It turns the verb 過ごす・いる
into a noun form so that it can be followed by the particle が.  
The は in the second and third sentences is a topic particle.

