Learn Hardcore Japanese: hayaokisuruto, benkyou no zikan ga takusan arimasu. - If I get up early, I have plenty of study time.

早起き is a noun meaning “early rising” or “waking up early.” In Japanese you can attach する to many nouns to turn them into verbs. So 早起きする literally means “to do early rising,” i.e. “to wake up early.”

What is the function of と in 早起きすると? It doesn’t look like the quotation marker.

Here と is the conditional “when/whenever” marker.
• A と B expresses that whenever A happens, B automatically or generally follows.
• It’s used for general truths or habitual results (“If you do A, B always happens”).
• In this sentence: “When/If one wakes up early, one has a lot of time to study.”

Why is 勉強 followed by の before 時間?

In Japanese, Noun1 の Noun2 creates a compound noun meaning “Noun2 of Noun1.”
• 勉強の時間 = “time for studying” or “study time.”
• The の links 勉強 (study) and 時間 (time), showing that the time is dedicated to studying.

Why do we use が with あります instead of は?

In sentences with ある/いる (existence or possession), が marks the thing that exists or is had:
• 勉強の時間があります。 = “There is study time / You have study time.”
• If you use は, as in 勉強の時間はあります, it puts contrastive emphasis on “study time” (e.g. “As for study time, there is plenty—but maybe not for something else”). Here we simply state existence, so が is natural.

What part of speech is たくさん, and how does it work with あります?

たくさん can be both a noun (“a lot”) and an adverb (“a lot,” “much”). In たくさんあります, it functions adverbially, modifying the verb ある:
• “There is a lot.”
You could also treat it as a noun and say たくさんの時間があります (“There is a large amount of time”) if you want to keep たくさん as a noun with の.

Could we say 早く起きると instead of 早起きすると? Are they the same?

Both express “if/when you wake up early,” but with slight nuance:
• 早く起きる uses the adverb 早く + the verb 起きる. It often refers to a single or specific event.
• 早起きする treats “early rising” as a habit or general action. It can sound more like “being an early riser.”
In many contexts they are interchangeable, but 早起きする emphasizes the general act or habit of waking early.

Can you use と for any conditional situation, such as specific future plans?

Not always. と implies that B automatically follows whenever A happens, often for general truths or inevitable results. It’s less common for planned or one-time events, especially when you’re giving instructions or making a request. For those, you’d normally use たら, ば, or と only very carefully.
Example:
• General truth: 春になると、花が咲きます。 (“When spring comes, flowers bloom.”)
• Planned event: 明日早起きしたら、勉強の時間がたくさんあります。 sounds more natural than using すると for “tomorrow.”

Why can ある be used with 時間? Time isn’t a physical object.

In Japanese, ある/いる is used to express the existence or availability of both concrete things and abstract concepts:
• Concrete: 本があります。 (“There is a book.”)
• Abstract/intangible: 時間があります。 (“There is time,” i.e. “I have time.”)
Here ある simply means “exists” or “is available,” and it works just as well for “time” as it does for “money,” “opportunity,” or other intangible nouns.