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たり

to do things like...; doing this and that

The particle 'たり' is used to list actions or states, indicating that they are examples among others. It conveys a sense of non-exhaustiveness.

N5

Meaning

to do things like...; doing this and that

The particle 'たり' is used to list actions or states, indicating that they are examples among others. It conveys a sense of non-exhaustiveness.

Formation

Verb (dictionary form) + たり (for the non-past)
Verb (た form) + たり (for the past)

Explanation

'たり' is a versatile Japanese grammatical structure which serves to list examples of actions or states. It is particularly useful when you want to convey various activities without specifying all of them. In English, this is similarly expressed with 'do things like...' or 'doing this and that.'

When using 'たり', you can connect various verbs, suggesting that these are just a few of the things you do. Importantly, it's common to use the 'たり' form in both present and past tenses, which adds flexibility to your expressions.

  • Use it to describe a range of activities.
  • It can be used to present actions that occur simultaneously or sequentially.