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 読んだ), or で for the て form ( like 泳いで). 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.
Related
Examples
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家でゲームをしたり、食べたりした。
At home, I did things like play video games and eat.
音楽を聞いたり、本を読んだりしました。
I did things like listen to music and read books.
掃除をしたり、洗濯をしたりした。
I did things like cleaning and doing the laundry.
雨が降ったり、止んだりするね。
It keeps doing things like raining and stopping, doesn't it.
今日は、勉強したり、練習したりする。
Today I will do things like study and practice.
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たり～たりする – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (17 in total)
EdBunpro
Asking these things is how you learn and push your brain more and more, ask all the ‘dumb’ questions you want!
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…
CGTespy
When using たり to say “things like”, does that mean its interchangeable with や and とか ? To my understanding, those 2 particles are often used for that purpose, so yeah
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