The ～たり〜たりする Form: Listing Actions Non-Exhaustively in Japanese

～たり〜たりする (tari-tari-suru) is the Japanese form for listing two or more actions as representative, non-exhaustive examples. It is conventionally translated as "do such things as A and B."¹² If you already know the plain past, it is the natural next step from chaining actions to giving a sample of what someone does.

Overview

The construction takes the plain past of each predicate, adds り, and closes the whole list with a single form of する.¹ The listed items are illustrative: they stand in for a larger set, and other unstated items of the same kind may also hold.²³

Because the closing する is a light, "helping" verb, it carries every grammatical detail of the sentence: tense, politeness, and polarity. The たり items stay fixed.¹

What ～たり〜たりする does

～たり〜たりする presents its items as examples drawn from a larger set rather than as a complete or ordered inventory.²³ The English that fits it best usually carries an open ending such as "and so on" or "among other things."

週末しゅうまつは買かい物ものをしたり、映画えいがを見みたりします。¹
"On weekends I do things like shopping and watching movies."

The closing する here is a grammatical anchor. The listed items attach to it with the particle り on each past-form stem, and する supplies the finite predicate.¹

JLPT level and register

This is an N5-level grammar point, taught in the first year of study and in constant use at N4 and above.⁴¹

How the N5 placement is anchored

The JLPT administering bodies stopped publishing an official grammar list after the 2010 test redesign, so no current government list pins this point to a level. The N5 placement rests on the reconstructed pre-2010 Content Specification (出題基準, the former test content guidelines) and on elementary-textbook placement in Genki I. The two agree.⁴¹

The form is register-neutral, meaning it is not especially casual or formal by itself. Politeness and tense appear only on the closing する, so the same たり items appear in casual and polite sentences without change.¹

図書館としょかんで本ほんを借かりたり、勉強べんきょうしたりしました。¹
"At the library I did things like borrow books and study."

Form and conjugation

Building たり from the た-form

To form たり, take the plain past (the た-form, or short past) of the predicate and add り.¹ The plain past is the casual past tense. It is the form that ends in た or だ.

飲のんだり食たべたりしました。¹
"I did things like drinking and eating."

The mechanics are worth seeing as a chain from a form you already produce. A learner who knows the た-form does not learn a new conjugation here; they append り to that form.¹

Verbs whose plain past ends in だ (the voiced past) take だり, not たり. The voicing is inherited directly from the past form.¹⁵

子こどもたちは遊あそんだり、騒さわいだりしている。¹
"The children are doing things like playing and making noise."

This た/だ split is the same alternation that governs the plain past and the て/で-form. It is conditioned by rendaku, the regular voicing of an initial consonant when a morpheme is attached. The morpheme is one and the same た, whose voiced realization is だ.⁵

本ほんを読よんだり、音楽おんがくを聞きいたりします。¹
"I do things like reading books and listening to music."

The frame: ～たり、～たり + する

The construction wraps each listed item in past-form + り and closes the whole list with a single form of する: ［V-たり］、［V-たり］＋する.¹² In writing, a comma conventionally separates the items. The final たり item is immediately followed by する.¹

日曜日にちようびはテレビを見みたり、本ほんを読よんだりします。¹
"On Sundays I do things like watch TV and read books."

する is a dummy, light verb here. It supplies a finite predicate for the list to attach to. It does not add the lexical meaning "to do" to each item beyond that grammatical role.¹²

友ともだちと話はなしたり、コーヒーを飲のんだりした。¹
"I did things like talk with friends and drink coffee."

Tense, politeness, and negation live only on the final する

Tense, politeness, and polarity for the whole list are carried only by the closing する. The internal たり items never inflect for any of these.¹ To make a ～たり～たりする sentence past, negative, or part of a larger sentence, change only the する slot. Leave the たり items untouched.¹

Closing form	Tense / politeness / polarity	Whole-list reading
する	plain, nonpast, affirmative	"do(es) things like …"
します	polite, nonpast, affirmative	"do(es) things like …"
した	plain, past, affirmative	"did things like …"
しました	polite, past, affirmative	"did things like …"
しない	plain, nonpast, negative	"do(es)n't do things like …"
しなかった	plain, past, negative	"didn't do things like …"

¹

昨日きのうは歌うたったり、踊おどったりしました。¹
"Yesterday I did things like singing and dancing."

The same list becomes negative with no change to the items, only to する.

試験しけんの前まえは遊あそんだり、休やすんだりしません。¹
"Before exams I don't do things like playing or resting."

Listing a single action with one たり

A single item closed with ～たりする is grammatical and idiomatic. It lists one representative action while implying others of the same kind, giving the reading "do things like X, among other things."²⁶

暇ひまなときは映画えいがを見みたりします。²
"When I'm free I do things like watch movies."

The single-たり pattern is not an abbreviation error. It is the standard way to give one illustrative example rather than a complete statement.²

たり with adjectives and nouns (brief)

The same pattern extends beyond verbs. I-adjectives use the past form 〜かった + り (暑い → 暑かった → 暑かったり).²⁷ Na-adjectives and nouns with the copula use 〜だった + り. For example: 静か → 静かだった → 静かだったり; 学生 → 学生だった → 学生だったり.²⁷

With adjectives and noun predicates, the list still closes with する. The meaning is "sometimes A, sometimes B."²

天気てんきは暑あつかったり寒さむかったりします。²
"The weather is sometimes hot and sometimes cold."

参加者さんかしゃは学生がくせいだったり、社会人しゃかいじんだったりします。²
"The participants are sometimes students and sometimes working adults."

Nuance and usage contexts

Non-exhaustive vs exhaustive: たり contrasted with て-form

This distinction defines the form. The て-form chains actions as an ordered and complete sequence: "did A, then B, and that was the course of events." It asserts that those are the events, in that order.¹² ～たり～たりする instead offers representative, non-exhaustive examples: "did things like A and B, among others." It claims neither completeness nor sequence.¹²

Replacing て with たり on the same two verbs changes the meaning. It moves from "I did exactly these, in this order" to "these are illustrative of what I did."²

朝あさごはんを食たべて、学校がっこうへ行いきました。¹
"I ate breakfast and then went to school." (ordered, exhaustive sequence)

朝あさごはんを食たべたり、学校がっこうへ行いったりしました。¹
"I did things like eat breakfast and go to school, among other things." (unordered, representative)

The contrast can be read at a glance as two different claims about the same pair of actions.

The te-form's sequencing and linking uses are covered in their own articles; this section points there rather than re-teaching て.

Order does not matter

Items inside ～たり～たりする carry no sequencing claim. Reordering them does not change the meaning, because the construction lists examples rather than narrating a sequence.¹² This contrasts directly with て. There, reordering the verbs reorders the implied events.¹

本ほんを読よんだり、テレビを見みたりします。¹
"I do things like read books and watch TV."

テレビを見みたり、本ほんを読よんだりします。¹
"I do things like watch TV and read books." (same meaning as above; order is free)

Listing nouns: how たり relates to や and とか

～たり～たりする is the predicate-side counterpart of non-exhaustive noun listing. For listing nouns themselves, Japanese uses particles such as や and とか. These also present items as representative rather than complete.²⁶

The choice depends on what is being listed, not on any difference in the "non-exhaustive" nuance. たり attaches to predicates (verbs, adjectives, noun + copula), while や and とか attach to bare nouns.²⁶ The noun-listing mechanics are covered in the や and とか particle articles.

Common real-world uses

Typical uses include describing weekend or holiday activities, giving examples of options or habits, and softening a statement by implying "and other things."¹⁶ Because politeness lives on する, the same listing works in polite speech. Simply close with します or しました.¹

旅行中りょこうちゅうは写真しゃしんを撮とったり、おみやげを買かったりしました。¹
"During the trip I did things like take photos and buy souvenirs."

会議かいぎでは質問しつもんしたり、意見いけんを言いったりします。¹
"In meetings I do things like ask questions and give opinions." (polite)

Good to know

Forgetting the final する

The most common beginner error is leaving the sentence on a bare たり with no closing する, as in 週末は買い物をしたり、映画を見たり when it is intended as a complete sentence. The list of たり items has no finite predicate of its own, so the sentence sounds grammatically unfinished. する, in some inflected form, is required to close the construction and carry tense and politeness.¹² The correct version closes the list:

週末しゅうまつは買かい物ものをしたり、映画えいがを見みたりします。¹
"On weekends I do things like shopping and watching movies."

Why the た in たり is not "past tense" here

The particle たり is a contraction tracing to classical て + あり (te ari). In modern grammar, it attaches to the plain-past shape of the predicate. The shape is inherited from the past form, but the construction makes no claim that the actions happened in the past.³

Tense for the whole sentence is set only by the closing する: 〜たりする is nonpast, and 〜たりした is past. If you read the internal た as "past," you will misread a present-habit sentence such as 休みの日は寝たり、ゲームをしたりする ("on days off I do things like sleep and play games"), which is nonpast.¹³

One たり is fine; you don't always need two

A common belief is that ～たり must come in pairs and that a single ～たりする is wrong. It is not. A single item lists one representative action and implies others of the same kind. For that reason, 暇なときは映画を見たりします ("when I'm free I do things like watch movies") is fully grammatical with one item.²⁶ The single-たり form is idiomatic, not an abbreviation error.

A mnemonic for "things like"

Use ～たり～たりする whenever the English you have in mind would naturally end in "and so on," "and things like that," or "among other things." If the list is meant to be illustrative rather than complete, たり is the form. If it is meant to be a complete, ordered account, the て-form fits instead.²⁶

See also

• The など Particle: Etc., Such Things As
• The や Particle: Non-Exhaustive Listing "And"
• The とか Particle: Casual Non-Exhaustive Listing
• The Ta-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules
• The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)
• Suru-Verbs (する-Verbs): How する Turns Nouns Into Verbs

References

Footnotes

1. Banno, Eri; Ikeda, Yoko; Ohno, Yutaka; Shinagawa, Chikako; Tokashiki, Kyoko. Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese (2nd ed.). The Japan Times, 2011. Lesson 11, grammar point ～たり～たりする. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰

2. Makino, Seiichi; Tsutsui, Michio. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1986. Entry: たり～たり (tari…tari), classified as a conjunction expressing representative, non-exhaustive listing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

3. "たり" (etymology and listing function). Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8A ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Tanos, Jonathan. "JLPT N5 Grammar List." tanos.co.uk (reconstruction of the pre-2010 official 日本語能力試験出題基準 / Japanese Language Proficiency Test Content Specification). http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt5/grammar/ ↩ ↩²

5. Bunka-chō (Agency for Cultural Affairs). 『現代仮名遣い』(Gendai Kanazukai), Cabinet Notification, 1986. Establishes the rendaku-conditioned だ/だり spelling alongside the morpheme た/たり. ↩ ↩²

6. Tofugu. "Japanese Listing Form たりする." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/tarisuru/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Banno, Eri; et al. Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese (2nd ed.). The Japan Times, 2011. Coverage of past short forms of i-adjectives, na-adjectives, and the copula (〜かった / 〜だった) on which the adjective/noun たり forms are built. ↩ ↩²