とかAmong other things, For example, Such as

For non-exhaustive lists

Structure

Verb (A) + とか + Verb (B) + （とか）
Adjective (A) + (だ) + とか + Adjective (B) + (だ) +（とか）
Noun (A) + とか + Noun (B) + （とか）

Details

About とか～とか

とか is a word that belongs to a unique family of particles in Japanese called listing particles. As the name suggests, these particles are used for listing groups of items that share similarities. とか can be used after verbs, or nouns, to express 'among other things, (A)'.

When multiple things are listed, the last item in the list can (and often does) have とか omitted.

Caution

とか is used to list items in a non-exhaustive way. What this means is that the listener will assume that there are other items in the list, apart from what is stated directly. The speaker is just providing a few examples of a (potentially much larger) category.

Fun Fact

As we have seen, とか may be used with verb phrases. This is in contrast to や, a similar grammar point that can only be used for listing nouns.

Examples

--:--

青(あお)とか水色(みずいろ)が好(す)き。

I like colors such as blue and light blue. (among others)

明日(あした)とか今週末(こんしゅうまつ)とか、暇(ひま)なら、映画(えいが)を見(み)に行(い)こう。

If you are free tomorrow or, for example this weekend, let's go watch a movie. (among others)

トム・クルーズとかブラッド・ピットとかがかっこいいと思(おも)う。

I think people like Tom Cruise for example, or Brad Pitt are cool. (among others)

日本(にほん)とか、韓国(かんこく)とかに行(い)ってみたいですね。

I want to go to places such as Japan and Korea. (among others)

日本語(にほんご)で「th」の音(おと)とかはないです。

Japanese doesn't have a 'th' sound (among other things).

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Online
- How to use とか
  MaggieSensei
- Parallel Marker とか
  Wasabi
- The Vague Listing 「や」 and 「とか」 particles
  Tae Kim

Offline
- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 488
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 69
- Tobira
  Page 20
- みんなの日本語 II
  Page 36 [CH 30]
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とか～とか – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (12 in total)

Pushindawood
among other things
for example
such as
Structure
- Verb + とか + Verb ( とか )
- Noun + とか + Noun( とか )
Can be preceded by a verb phrase (や cannot)

For non-exhaustive lists

View on Bunpro
visez
Hi, I am not clear on the difference between とか and など, it seems like they are both used with non-exhaustive lists
mrnoone
@visez

Hey

Their function is basically the same, but there are some differences in structure and formality.
- など is more formal than とか, so it is used in writing and when talking to superiors, people met the first time and the like. However, とか is used when talking to friends, family and generally people we are closer to. なんて, which is a casual variant of など can be used when talking to close people too.
Examples:
これらのものなどは必要ではない。
洗剤とかはあんまり使わない。
- when there is more than one element listed, とか has to be added to each of them, while など is only added to the last one (なんて has the same limitations), and the other elements are listed with や (or sometimes with とか). Adding など to more than one listed element is not allowed.
visez
That’s great! Thanks a lot!
bunbunyup
Does anyone know why I cannot use たり?

E.g
お客きゃくさんが来くるのに、掃除 ** 、料理 ** 、何なにもしていない！
Pushindawood
@bunbunyup Hey! You can use たり (だったり or したり) here. We just were not catching these answers and throwing hints/warnings to try a different grammar point (とか). I have updated the review questions for this grammar point to do so. Thank you for drawing this to our attention. Cheers!
deltacat3

あの人凄いね。人の顔を見るだけで性格とか分かるって。
That person is amazing. She can determine someone’s personality (among other things) just by looking at their face.

What is the って doing at the end of this sentence? Is it a casual quotation? If so, can you quote a manners in which things are done?
Pushindawood
@deltacat3 Hey! This って is like a combination of the casual quotation って and the hearsay declaration んだって. It might be more accurate to translate this sentence as “I heard that she can determine…” since it is not necessarily a direct quote. Both って and んだって can be used here, but って makes it sound like the speaker heard this information directly from あの人. Cheers!

Edit: I have updated the translation to use “I heard that…”
deltacat3
サンキュー @Pushindawood <3
foodsam
Hi, is there any differences using や for making non-exhaustive lists instead of とか？
Howl_UK
Tae Kim mentions that とか is a more colloquial version of や.
The BunPro grammar point mentions that とか can be preceded by a verb phrase, whereas や cannot.
foodsam
Thank you.
jugglenutz
The structure points note that this can be used with adjectives, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that and there aren’t examples doing so…unless does it mean only with noun-like adjectives or something?
“Adjective (A) + (だ) + とか + Adjective (B) + (だ) +（とか）”

Maybe like その国の料理は面白いだとか美味しいです
or あの彼はユニークとかみたいですね

Idk!