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sengetu, watasi ha kazoku to issyo ni yama ni ryokou wo simasita.

先月せんげつ、　私わたし　は　家族かぞく　と　一緒いっしょ　に　山やま　に　旅行りょこう　を　しました。sengetu, watasi ha kazoku to issyo ni yama ni ryokou wo simasita.
Last month I traveled to the mountains with my family.
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Questions & Answers about sengetu, watasi ha kazoku to issyo ni yama ni ryokou wo simasita.

Why is は used after 私 instead of が?

は is the topic marker. It tells us what the sentence is about: 私 (I / me). The rest of the sentence is information about that topic.

  • 私は ＝ As for me / I (topic)
  • Then: 家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました ＝ what I did.

If you used が (私が), it would sound like you are emphasizing I as the one who did it, often in contrast to someone else:

  • 私が家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。
    → It was I who traveled to the mountains with my family (not someone else).

In normal storytelling where you’re just saying what you did, 私は is natural, and often the 私 can be dropped entirely:

  • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。
    → Still understood as I did it from context.
Why is there no particle after 先月?

Time expressions like 先月 (last month), 昨日 (yesterday), 明日 (tomorrow), 毎日 (every day) often appear without any particle when they just mark when something happened.

So:

  • 先月、旅行をしました。
    → I traveled last month.

You can add に (先月に) in some contexts, but for simple “when” it’s usually omitted in everyday speech and writing. Adding に here would sound a bit more stiff or marked and is not needed:

  • ✗ 先月には私が旅行をしました。
    → Grammatically possible, but sounds like you’re emphasizing “it was last month that I traveled,” which is unusual here.
What is the function of と in 家族と一緒に?

Here と means “with” (as in “together with someone”).

  • 家族と ＝ with (my) family
  • 一緒に ＝ together

So 家族と一緒に literally feels like “together with (my) family.”

Compare:

  • 友だちと映画を見ました。
    → I watched a movie with a friend/friends.
    (と alone can mean “with.”)

Adding 一緒に makes the idea of doing it together more explicit and natural.

Why do we need both と and 一緒に? Isn’t one of them enough?

You can say just 家族と旅行をしました and it’s perfectly correct. That already implies “with my family.”

However:

  • 家族と一緒に旅行をしました。
    • Sounds a bit more natural and friendly in many contexts.
    • Emphasizes the “together” feeling (we did it as a group).

So:

  • 家族と旅行をしました。 = I traveled with my family.
  • 家族と一緒に旅行をしました。 = I traveled together with my family. (a bit more explicit / warm)

You wouldn’t usually say 家族一緒に旅行をしました without と. The common fixed pattern is Xと一緒に.

What does 一緒に grammatically do in this sentence?

一緒に functions as an adverb modifying the verb phrase 旅行をしました.

Pattern:

  • Xと一緒にV ＝ do V together with X

Here:

  • 家族と一緒に modifies 旅行をしました
    → traveled together with my family

Note: 一緒に is a set phrase; you don’t replace に with another particle. 一緒に as a unit means together.

Why do we say 山に and not 山で?

に and で mark different things:

  • に after a place often marks a destination or goal:

    • 山に行きます。 → go to the mountains
    • アメリカに住んでいます。 → live in the US

  • で marks the location where an action takes place:

    • 山でキャンプをします。 → camp in the mountains
    • 図書館で勉強します。 → study in the library

In 山に旅行をしました, 山 is the destination of the trip, not just a place where some random action happens. So に is appropriate.

If you said 山で旅行をしました, it would sound odd, like you’re doing “traveling” inside the mountain as a location. Travel by nature involves going to a place, so に fits more naturally.

Could we use へ instead of に in 山に?

Yes, you could say:

  • 山へ旅行をしました。

Both に and へ can mark a destination:

  • 山に行きます。
  • 山へ行きます。

Nuance:

  • に: more neutral, very common.
  • へ: slightly more “towards” / directional in feel, and a bit more formal or written in some contexts.

In everyday conversation, 山に旅行をしました is more typical, but 山へ旅行をしました is also correct.

Why does 旅行 take を and しました? Why not just use a verb like 行きました?

旅行 is a noun meaning “trip” or “travel.”
する is a verb meaning “to do.”

Putting them together:

  • 旅行をする = to do a trip → to travel / take a trip

So:

  • 旅行をしました is the past tense of 旅行をする.

を marks 旅行 as the direct object of する.

There are two common ways to say “I traveled to the mountains”:

  1. Using 旅行する:

    • 山に旅行をしました。
    • 山に旅行しました。 (here を is often dropped in speech)

  2. Using 行く:

    • 山に行きました。 = I went to the mountains.
    • 山に旅行に行きました。 = I went on a trip to the mountains.

All are grammatical; they differ slightly in emphasis:

  • 旅行をしました / 旅行しました: emphasizes “taking a trip”.
  • 行きました: emphasizes simply “going” somewhere.
Is it okay to drop を and say 山に旅行しました?

Yes. With “suru-verbs” (noun + する), the を is often omitted in everyday speech and writing when it’s clear:

  • 勉強をする → 勉強する
  • 運動をする → 運動する
  • 旅行をする → 旅行する

In the past tense:

  • 旅行をしました → 旅行しました

So:

  • 山に旅行しました。
    is natural and means the same thing as
  • 山に旅行をしました。

In textbooks, you’ll often see the full form 旅行をする first to make the grammar clear.

Why is the verb in past tense (しました)?

Because the time expression 先月 (last month) refers to the past, the action is completed, so Japanese uses the past tense しました.

  • 旅行をします。 → I (will) travel / I travel (habitually).
  • 旅行をしました。 → I traveled / I took a trip.

Japanese past tense 〜ました covers both English “did” and “have done” depending on context.

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say 先月、家族と一緒に私は山に旅行をしました。?

Japanese word order is quite flexible, as long as you keep the verb at the end. Your sentence:

  • 先月、家族と一緒に私は山に旅行をしました。

is grammatically possible, but it sounds a bit unnatural / clunky in normal conversation because 私は is stuck in the middle for no strong reason.

More natural variations include:

  • 先月、私は家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。 (original)
  • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。 (drop 私)
  • 私は先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。
  • 家族と一緒に、先月山に旅行をしました。

Key points:

  • The main verb (旅行をしました) stays at the end.
  • Time (先月), topic (私は), companions (家族と一緒に), and destination (山に) can move around somewhat for emphasis or flow.
Can 私 be omitted in this sentence?

Yes, very naturally. Japanese often omits pronouns when they are clear from context.

So:

  • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行をしました。

is perfectly normal and usually understood as “I traveled...” if you’re talking about yourself.

You would include 私 when:

  • It’s the start of a story and you want to clearly set yourself as the topic.
  • There could be confusion about who did the action.
  • You want to emphasize “I (as opposed to others) did this.”
How does Japanese express plural here? How do we know it’s “mountains” and “family” as a group?

Japanese usually does not mark plural the way English does. Instead, number is inferred from context.

  • 山 can mean mountain or mountains.
  • 家族 can mean family as a unit, not “families.”

In 山に旅行をしました, English speakers often translate 山 as “the mountains” (plural) because that’s the natural way to talk about going to a mountain area. Japanese doesn’t need to mark this; 山 just refers to that destination.

Similarly, 家族 is understood as my family (the group of people). You don’t need a plural form. If you need to be explicit—e.g., “three mountains,” “five family members”—you’d add numbers and counters, but here it’s not necessary.

Is there a more casual way to say this sentence?

Yes. You can make it more casual in several ways:

  1. Use plain past した instead of polite しました:

    • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行をした。

  2. Drop を:

    • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行した。

  3. Use 行く in plain form:

    • 先月、家族と一緒に山に行った。
    • 先月、家族と一緒に山に旅行に行った。

All of these would sound natural among friends or in informal writing (like messages).