そして (soshite) Meaning Japanese Grammar - And

The term そして (soshite) is a conjunction in Japanese which means and, and after, and then, thus.

そして has a similar function to the て form: it is used to connect two sentences together and add information (（A） and / and then （B）). そして is similar to other expressions like それから, それに, その上.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of そして, how it is formed, and when そして is used through real example sentences.

How そして is formed

The conjunction そして is usually added at the beginning of the second sentence which connects to what was said in the previous sentence to add information:

そして originates from そうして, but in modern Japanese そうして is different because it can also be used as an adverb (that way), as opposed to そして.

How and when to use そして

In general we can say that そして has 2 main uses:

• Indicate a time sequence of events (and, and after, and then)
• Enumerate a list of actions or qualities

In this first example we see そして used to connect two sentences about the characteristics of the film (映(えい)画(が)). In this context, そして translates as is, is also, furthermore.

In this second example instead we see how そして is used to list a sequence of events or actions:

1. I went to Tokyo first (行(い)った)
2. Then I met my friends (会(あ)った)

Real examples of そして

Let's see below an example of そして taken from the title of an article online:

In this example そして is used purely as a conjunction to mean and, and also.

In this song (自(じ)由(ゆう)への扉(とびら) to the door of freedom, from the movie Rapunzel ラプンツェル) are listed a series of activities done in the morning (昼(ひる)間(ま)). Before the last activity we note the use of そして. Here too そして is translated as and, and then.

Example sentences with そして