I want to say “I like spending lunchtimes with Sarah.”
(Sarah is a fill-in name)
I am absolutely clueless, because I’ve only done Japanese for a semester at school (but I plan on choosing it as a subject next year). Would I use ‘to’ and where? I know lunch is hirugohan, but I’ve heard a variety of answers?
(Kanji and romaji are both fine.)
Some help would be much appreciated!
Arigatou gozaimasu!
You're right that you use と for "with".
"[do ~~] with Sarah" → 「セーラと[～～する]」
"Lunch" is [昼]{ひる}ごはん, but for "lunchtime" I think you can use 「ランチタイム」, 「(お)[昼休]{ひるやす}み」 (literally "lunch break". The お is a polite prefix), or maybe 「[昼休憩]{ひるきゅうけい}」.
I think you can say...
「セーラと｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝を[過]{す}ごすのが[好]{す}きです。」,
「｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝は、セーラと過ごすのが好きです。」, or
「｛ランチタイム/昼休み｝(に)は、セーラと[一緒]{いっしょ}にいるのが好きです。」
etc., depending on the context.
The の in 過ごすのが・いるのが is a nominalizer. It turns the verb 過ごす・いる into a noun form so that it can be followed by the particle が.
The は in the second and third sentences is a topic particle.
