Listing Actions & Descriptions (～たり)

We can make partial lists of nouns with the や and など particles, but what about verbs? Similarly to how と resulted in an exhaustive list, the use of the te form to link verbs expresses that you only did the actions described.

今日きょうは勉強べんきょうして、友達ともだちと遊あそんで、買かい物ものに行いきました。

Today I studied, hung out with my friends, and then went shopping.

In many cases when someone asks us what we did over the weekend we’d reply inferring that among other things we did x, y, and z: “You know, studied a little, met with friends—that sort of thing.” や and など let us create this nuance with nouns. For verbs we use ～たり.

For this structure we need to use the past tense of the verb in its standard form.

【Verb: Past】り【Verb: Past】り する

Note that the tense of the sentence is determined by the form of the final “to do” verb at the end (and it is always the “to do” verb that is used at the end). Note further that while here and in just about all the Japanese textbooks it is introduced as the “たり” form, the た might be a だ depending on the verb you’re conjugating.

e.g. to swim, 泳およぐ → 泳およいだり.

Some example sentences:

今日きょうは、勉強べんきょうしたり友達ともだちと遊あそんだり買かい物ものに行いったりしました。

Today I studied, hung out with my friends, went shopping and so forth.

It is critical to note a key difference here between the te form and 〜たり: the te form dictates a strict chronological sequence of events, whereas 〜たり does not. The actions listed with 〜たり are in no particular order.

今週末こんしゅうまつは、友達ともだちと会あったり掃除そうじしたりすると思おもいます。

This weekend I think I’ll meet friends, clean the house, and so on.

Using a Single 〜たり

While most commonly introduced in pairs, it is also grammatically correct to use a single 〜たり. This provides just one representative example of an action, implying that other similar unmentioned actions also took place.

休やすみの日ひは、本ほんを読よんだりします。

On my days off, I do things like read books.

Negative Past Tense & Adjectives

We can also use 〜たり with the negative past tense, but this is less common.

最近さいきんは雨あめが降ふったり降ふらなかったりする日ひが多おおいですよね。

Recently there seem to be many days when it rains on and off.

We can use 〜たり with adjectives as well, although you will more often see it used with verbs. Here it is used to infer changing states between A and B. The grammatical structure remains the same as for verbs. We need the past tense of the adjective followed by the verb する.

裕輔ゆうすけ	先月せんげつ、仕事しごとはどうでしたか？
Yusuke	How was work last month?
沙織さおり	忙いそがしかったり暇ひまだったりしました。
Saori	Sometimes busy, sometimes free.

It is worth noting that while the above example uses the grammatically correct しました, in everyday casual conversation, you will very frequently hear native speakers end this structure with でした instead. While technically incorrect for written Japanese or exams, it is perfectly natural to hear:

裕輔ゆうすけ	先月せんげつ、仕事しごとはどうでしたか？
Yusuke	How was work last month?
沙織さおり	忙いそがしかったり暇ひまだったりでした。
Saori	Sometimes busy, sometimes free.