ひらがなやカタカナや漢字（かんじ）があります。

サッカーやテニスをするのが好（す）き。

バスや電車（でんしゃ）で行（い）く。

コンビニでお水（みず）やおかしを買（か）った。

京都（きょうと）や東京（とうきょう）や大阪（おおさか）に行（い）きました。

果物（くだもの）や野菜（やさい）を食（た）べてください。

新幹線（しんかんせん）で、東京（とうきょう）や大阪（おおさか）にも行（い）った。

あのカフェに猫（ねこ）や犬（いぬ）がいる。

コーヒーやジュースを買（か）ってください。

この絵（え）は緑（みどり）色（いろ）や赤（あか）色（いろ）が多（おお）い。

火曜日（かようび）や金曜日（きんようび）も、スポーツをします。

冷蔵庫（れいぞうこ）に肉（にく）や魚（さかな）があります。

Japanese Particles と (to), や (ya), か (ka)

<div class='writeup-body'>や is a particle that has several different roles in Japanese, with the most common being as an adverbial particle. や is used similarly to と as 'and', but rather than listing specific things in a group, it lists 'things like (A)'. や is always used to group nouns, and simply comes directly after them.<ul class='writeup-examples--holder'><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>このスーパーには果物（くだもの）や弁当（べんとう）がある。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>This super market has things like fruit and bento's.</div></li><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>飛行機（ひこうき）や船（ふね）は大（おお）きいです。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>Things like planes and ships are big.</div></li></ul>To compare how と and や are different, imagine that there is a bowl of fruit. In this bowl there are apples, oranges, and peaches. If と is used to list the apples and oranges, it would give the listener the impression that there are no peaches. This is called an 'exhaustive' list, meaning that all possibilities should be listed. However, if や is used, the listener would know that there are other things in the bowl apart from the apples and oranges. In this way, や is a better choice when you want to say 'and', but don't want to limit the group that you are listing.<ul class='writeup-examples--holder'><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>昨日（きのう）の飲（の）み会（かい）でビールとワインを飲（の）んだ。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>Last night at the party, I drank beer and wine. (Only beer and wine)</div></li><li class='writeup-example'><div class='writeup-example--japanese'>昨日（きのう）の飲（の）み会（かい）でビールやワインを飲（の）んだ。</div><div class='writeup-example--english'>Last night at the party, I drank things like beer and wine. (There were other things, but it was mainly beer and wine)</div></li></ul><div class='writeup-caution'><div class='caution-header'>Caution</div>や cannot be used after verb phrases. This is done with たり, or とか.</div></div>

Grammar Info

や

Things like, And the like