或(あ)るいはOr, Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps, Or possibly

Structure

Verb + か + あるいは
［い］Adjective + か + あるいは
［な］Adjective + か + あるいは
Noun + （か） + あるいは

あるいは + Phrase + かもしれない

Details

About あるいは

あるいは is a construction in Japanese that is used as a 接続語(せつぞくご) (conjunction). It usually appears after statements that have been marked with the adverbial particle か. あるいは may be loosely translated as 'possibly', 'maybe', or 'or'.

Although usually being treated as a single word, あるいは is actually a combination of the attributive form of 或(あ)る, a verb meaning 'a certain', the suffix character い (used for making い-Adjectives), and the adverbial particle は. Due to this, the literal meaning of あるいは is just 'another possibility', as it highlights a certain something existing within the same area/category as (A).

Examples

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鍋(なべ)或(ある)いは深(ふか)めのフライパンを使(つか)いましょう。

Let's use a pot or a deep frying pan.

動画(どうが)或(ある)いは写真(しゃしん)でもいいので送(おく)ってください。

Please send me video or pictures, anything is ok.

月曜日(げつようび)或(ある)いは火曜日(かようび)であれば、参加(さんか)できます。

If it is Monday or Tuesday, I can attend.

植物(しょくぶつ)或(ある)いは昆虫(こんちゅう)を観察(かんさつ)しましょう。

Let's observe some plants or bugs.

晴(は)れ或(ある)いは曇(くも)りであれば、お祭(まつ)りに行(い)きましょう。

Whether it is sunny or cloudy, let's go to the festival.

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あるいは – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (14 in total)

mrnoone

English:
or ・ possibly・maybe・perhaps・or possibly

Structure:
A + (か) + あるいは + B
A。 あるいは + B
あるいは + Phrase + かもしれない

[If used with かもしれない means “possibly”,“perhaps” or “or possibly”.]

View on Bunpro
Johnathan-Weir
matt_in_mito
I might be wrong, but I thought あるいは was in place of か, since they both have a similar meaning.
FredKore
The Structure box shows that you can use か＋あるいは.
(I’m not used to seeing that either)
EbonyMidget
You can find people using it on twitter “効率を落とすかあるいはミスを隠すようになる。” “放流に伴う安全確保のためか、あるいはヒグマ出没のためか”
“自らか、あるいは然るべき人との壁打ちで”
Not sure why but the comma after か feels better.
matt_in_mito

FredKore:

The Structure box shows that you can use か＋あるいは

Oops, I should have looked at that first!

EbonyMidget:

Not sure why but the comma after か feels better.

In this case I agree
Johnathan-Weir
It seems it can’t be used in most cases. あるいはthe option isn’t accepted most cases.
snowwater
IcyIceBear
No should be just one. I’m not sure who to ping for this tho. If you take it to the bug report thread it’s more likely to be seen

https://community.bunpro.jp/t/feedback-bug-reports/130/3861

Welcome to the community
Fuga
Hey @snowwater, and welcome to the community !

It is not normal for あるいは to appear twice, so we have just fixed these!

Thanks for letting us know about this error!
simias
I find one of the example sentences rather odd:

牛乳あるいはチーズが使われている料理は食べられません。

I can’t eat anything that uses milk, or another possibility is cheese.

What is being conveyed here exactly? That the person isn’t sure if they can eat cheese or not?

When I first read the translation I actually misinterpreted it and thought it meant that the person was saying that cheese could replace milk in the recipe.
nekoyama
The Japanese sentence means “I can’t eat anything made with milk or cheese”.
I’m not sure about the English one.
simias
Thank you. I think what confuses me is that the point in general as explained in the bunpro lesson seems to carry some element of uncertainty, but there’s isn’t any here, right?

So basically in this case it effectively means と?
nekoyama
It means A or B, like AかB.
casual

晴れあるいは曇りであれば、お祭りに行きましょう。

Am I right in thinking that this means:

If it’s sunny, or even if it’s cloudy, let’s go to the festival. (but it’s better if it’s sunny, and we make no promises about other cases such as rain).

The impression I’m getting from the English translation is somewhat different, which is throwing me off a little bit:

Whether it is sunny or cloudy, let’s go to the festival. (it doesn’t matter which, we go there absolutely in any case).

I’ve re-read the linked 類語例解辞典 snippet about あるいは, and I don’t 100% understand it, but it seems that it typically puts more emphasis on option A as opposed to B.