Grammar Info

N2 Lesson 10: 8/21

やら〜やら

Whether or, Things like, And … so on

Structure

A(1) + やら + B(1) + やら

(1) Verb［る］、Noun、［い］Adjective

Details

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About やら～やら

やら is an adverbial particle in Japanese which expresses lack of determination or limitation in regard to (A). Due to this, it is very similar to other structures like など, and will often translate as '(A) and so on', or '(A) and the like'.

やら may appear following verbs in their dictionary form, nouns, い-Adjectives, or な-Adjectives. When repeated as (A) やら (B) やら, both (A) and (B) will often be the same type of word, although this is not a limitation when the speaker is expressing various feelings in relation to something.

Compared to とか, やら puts more emphasis on the scope of things within the category of (A) and (B), thus making it sound like (A) and (B) are only a small fraction of many different things within a complex pool of various emotions, actions, etc.

Caution

When appearing as のやら～のやら, this emphasizes that the speaker does not actually know which one out of (A) and (B) is the correct option, and is just presenting both as potential possibilities. Due to this, (A) and (B) will often be antonyms or opposites of some sort in these types of sentences, but not always.

  • 彼女(かのじょ)は大学(だいがく)に行(い)くのやら行(い)かないのやらはっきりしない。
    It is not clear whether she is going to college or not.
  • あの歌手(かしゅ)は上手(じょうず)なのやら下手(へた)なのやら、私(わたし)にはさっぱりわかりません。
    I have no idea if that person is a good singer or not.

Examples

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    うれしいやらはずかしいやらで、どんな顔(かお)をしていればいいのか、わからなかった。

    I didn't know whether I should react with happiness or shyness.

    あの映画(えいが)は、戦闘(せんとう)シーンやら冒険(ぼうけん)シーン等(など)があるから、君(きみ)も見(み)てみたらいいよ。

    In that movie, there are many scenes of battles, adventures and so on, you should watch it.

    A：「GPSを買(か)うか買(か)わないかわからん...でも、GPSがどうしてもほしい。」
    B：「どうせGPSを買(か)いたいと思(おも)ってるなら 、最近(さいきん)の携帯(けいたい)電話(でんわ)はカメラやらGPSやらついているからただのGPSよりスマホを買(か)ったらいい。」

    A: 'I don't know whether to buy a GPS or not… But I want one so much.'
    B: 'If you want to buy a GPS anyway, modern mobile phones have cameras, GPS and so on. So rather than buying an ordinary GPS, it's better to get a smartphone.'

    子供(こども)は母(はは)に叱(しか)られたあと、泣(な)くやら、鼻(はな)が出(で)ているやらで、ひどい騒(さわ)ぎだった。

    When a child was scolded by her mother, she ended up crying, having a runny nose and so on. It was quite the scene.

    彼(かれ)に褒(ほ)めてもらうとうれしいやら恥(は)ずかしいやら、とにかく気持(きも)ちがよかったわ。

    When I was praised by him, I don't know whether I felt happiness or shyness. Anyway, it felt great.

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やら～やら – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (2 in total)

  • EdBunpro

    EdBunpro

    Does the usage/nuance of やら～やら change at all when the sentence only involves one やら? Does it function similar to など?

    Also, is the difference between やら～やら and とか～とか that とか involves items the listener knows isn’t exhaustive whereas やら doesn’t do this? A little confusing, so many seemingly similar points involved

  • Fuga

    Fuga

    やら does not change nuance even if it only involves one やら. やら～やら is also used for exhaustive lists. The main difference between やら and とか is that とか does not have any emotion attached to the list. However, やら can sometimes have a very slight nuance of annoyance.

    毎晩のように隣の部屋から、音楽とか怒鳴り声が聞こえてくる。
    Almost every night, I can hear things such as music and yelling from the apartment next door. This sentence has not emotion attached to it and sounds like the speaker is laying out facts.

    毎晩のように隣の部屋から、音楽やら怒鳴り声が聞こえてくる。
    Almost every night, I can hear things such as music and yelling from the apartment next door. This sentence has the nuance that the speaker is sick and tired of the music and the yelling he can hear almost every night.

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