みずと おちゃ__________ どちらが いいですか。
• の• と• や• が
English: "Which would you like between water and tea?"
Key vocabulary:
みず - water
おちゃ - tea
どちら - which
いい - good
いいですか? directly translates to "is it/are they good?" but is used to as "what would you like?" or "what do you like?"
e.g. みずがいいですか? - Would you like water? (lit. "Is water OK?")
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や - and (other things)
Used when listing things but doesn't specify every item.
e.g. むずやおちゃをかいました。- I bought water and tea (and more).
の - possessive particle
Indicates when something belongs to something else.
e.g. わたしのおちゃをのみました。- I drank my tea.
が - subject particle
Indicates the subject of the sentence.
e.g. このおちゃがおいしいです。- This tea is tasty.
と - and
Used to connect two nouns.
e.g. みずとおちゃをかいました。- I bought water and tea. (And nothing else.)
You might think the answer is が because we're talking about the water and tea, however, notice how this sentence already has a が?
In the clause どちらが いいですか the subject is どちら because the main focus of the questions is which is good (which do you want)?
You cannot have two subjects in a sentence so が cannot be correct.
The right answer is と because you're asking "which between A and B (and)?"
noun と noun と どちらが - which is ___ A or B?
e.g. バスとでんしゃとどちらがはやいですか。- Which is faster, bus or train?
e.g. 日本語と英語とどちらがむずしいですか。- Which language is more difficult, Japanese or English?