Learn Hardcore Japanese: kaze wo hiku to, seki ya kusyami wo surukoto ga arimasu. - When I catch a cold, I sometimes cough or sneeze.

Breakdown of kaze o hiku to, seki ya kushami o surukoto ga arimasu.

Why does 風邪をひく mean to catch a cold? I thought ひく meant things like pull or play.

That is a very common question. In 風邪をひく, ひく is part of a fixed expression meaning to catch an illness, especially a cold.

Even if you know 引く（ひく） as to pull, Japanese often has set combinations where the meaning is not fully predictable from the individual words.

A few useful comparisons:

So for cold, Japanese usually says 風邪をひく, not something literally like cold catches you.

Why is it 風邪をひく with を? Why not に or something else?

Because 風邪 is treated as the direct object of the verb ひく in this expression.

Even though this does not match English grammar exactly, it is simply the standard Japanese pattern. So the best way to learn it is as one chunk:

This is more natural than trying to translate each piece word-for-word.

What does と mean in 風邪をひくと?