Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 7: 13/13

たり～たりするThings like ~ and ~

Structure

Verb［た］り + （Verb［た］り） + する
Verb［た］り + ［する］Verb（したり） + する

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Conjunctive Particle

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    Standard

About たり～たりする

In Japanese, たり is a 'conjunction particle' that is used in exactly the same way as て. However, instead of having the nuance of 'then', or 'and', it has the nuance of 'and things like'. Basically, it is used for listing sequences of events that do not happen in a specific order.

The last たり in any sequence will almost always be followed by する (or した for past tense).

From these examples we can see that たり will sometimes be said as だり. This happens with the same verbs that usually use だ for past tense (like 読(よ)んだ), or で for the て form ( like 泳(およ)いで). This will not change the meaning at all, and is only to help make the words easier to say.

To summarize, the difference between て form, and たり is as follows.

Events in order - I did (A) て, (B) て, (C) て, (D) た.

Events in no specific order - I did (D) たり, (B) たり, (A) たり, (C) たりした.

たり is frequently used when there is only one verb in the sentence. This just means that the speaker did 'things like (A)', without specifically listing anything else.

Caution

In cases where a する verb is the last verb in a particular sequence, たり will often be omitted.

  • 勉強(べんきょう)をしたり、おやつを食(た)べたり、掃除(そうじ)もします。
    I do things like study, eat snacks, and also clean. (In no specific order)

Examples

--:--

    家(いえ)でゲームをしたり、食(た)べたりした。

    At home, I did things like play video games and eat.

    音楽(おんがく)を聞(き)いたり、本(ほん)を読(よ)んだりしました。

    I did things like listen to music and read books.

    掃除(そうじ)をしたり、洗濯(せんたく)をしたりした。

    I did things like cleaning and doing the laundry.

    雨(あめ)が降(ふ)ったり、止(や)んだりするね。

    It keeps doing things like raining and stopping, doesn't it.

    今日(きょう)は、勉強(べんきょう)したり、練習(れんしゅう)したりする。

    Today I will do things like study and practice.

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      たり～たりする – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (16 in total)

      • Superpnut

        Superpnut

        No I actually just forgot that the stuff in [ x x x ] tells you what you’re supposed to use for the answer. I feel very silly right now. But uhh…ya. My fault guys

      • EdBunpro

        EdBunpro

        Asking these things is how you learn and push your brain more and more, ask all the ‘dumb’ questions you want!

      • additionalramen

        additionalramen

        There are a bunch of examples like this (bolding mine):

        今日は、勉強したり、練習したりする。

        まだ食べたり、飲んだりしています。

        Where does the “し” come from?

        EDIT: Whoops! I missed that the verbs need to be in their past tense (た) form before adding -たり to the end. I think that answers that question…

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