次々(つぎつぎ)と

次々(つぎつぎ)と describes events or arrivals following each other without a gap — one finishes or appears, and the next is already there. It modifies the verb, so it goes with verbs of happening, appearing, arriving and releasing rather than with states.

Formation: 次(つぎ) 'next' doubled + と, the particle that turns a manner word into an adverb.

Variants, all interchangeable in most contexts:

• 次々(つぎつぎ)と: the standard adverbial form
• 次々(つぎつぎ)に: equally common, slightly more colloquial
• 次々(つぎつぎ): the bare form, used before a verb in brisk or written style

Collocations

• 次々(つぎつぎ)と起(お)こる: to happen one after another
• 次々(つぎつぎ)と現(あらわ)れる: to appear in succession
• 次々(つぎつぎ)と倒(たお)れる: to go down one after another

Similar words

• 続々(ぞくぞく)と: also 'one after another', but implying large numbers arriving
• 立(た)て続(つづ)けに: in rapid succession, with the emphasis on how little time separates the events