HSK 1
跟、和
gēn 、 hé
The words '跟' and '和' (and/with)
Explanation
跟 (gēn) and 和 (hé) are both used to introduce the party jointly involved, meaning "with" or "and", linking two people/things in a sentence.
Subject (the doer, at the start of the sentence) + 跟/和 + party + verb → 我和姐姐一起去 (I go together with my older sister).
when saying you do something "together with" someone, or when listing two parties. 跟 (gēn) leans toward spoken language and emphasizes interaction between two sides (跟老师请假 - to ask the teacher for leave). 和 (hé) is neutral, common in both speech and writing, and is often used for listing.
in most cases 跟 and 和 are interchangeable; 和 sounds more natural for listing nouns (苹果和香蕉 - apples and bananas) than 跟.
forgetting to place the negative adverbial (a word modifying a verb or adjective) 没/不 BEFORE the whole 跟/和 phrase (correct: 我没和姐姐去; wrong: 我和姐姐没去 sounds unnatural); and often omitting 一起 (yìqǐ - together) when wanting to emphasize doing something jointly.
Examples
He asked the teacher for leave.
I did not go to China together with my older sister.
Practice
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Learn “跟、和” effectively
The grammar point “跟、和” (The words '跟' and '和' (and/with)) is one of the key structures at HSK 1. To use it fluently, you need to understand the contexts where it's used and practice regularly.
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