Past & Experience Lesson 5
This lesson covers the たり〜たり construction, used to list representative actions in the past or present, and reviews the use of た-form for experiences.
What did you do on your day off?
When you talk about your weekend, you rarely do just one thing. You might have gone shopping, watched a movie, and eaten at a cafe. In Japanese, when you want to list several representative actions, you use a specific grammar pattern to show that these are just a few examples of what you did.
しゅうまつはなにをしましたか。
週末は何をしましたか。
What did you do on the weekend?
ほんをよんだり、えいがをみたりしました。
本を読んだり、映画を見たりしました。
I read books, watched movies, and so on.
The たり〜たり construction
To list representative actions, you take the past tense (た-form) of a verb and add り. You then add the verb します (or しました) at the end to complete the sentence.
Tip
Seeing it in action
Here are examples of how to use this structure to describe varied activities.
昨日は買い物をしたり、料理を作ったりしました。
Yesterday, I did things like shopping and cooking.
日曜日はテニスを【したり】、本を読んだりします。
Hint: The past form of する + り
On Sundays, I do things like play tennis and read books.
Nuance and Usage
It is important to distinguish between listing actions and simply connecting them in chronological order.
たり〜たり vs 〜て、〜て
たり〜たり
Representative list (non-chronological)
歌ったり、踊ったりした
〜て、〜て
Sequential order (chronological)
起きて、朝ご飯を食べて、学校へ行った
Which sentence implies a non-chronological list of examples?
- 本を読んで、寝ました。
- ✓ 本を読んだり、寝たりしました。
たり〜たり is used for a representative list of actions, whereas 〜て is used for a sequence of events.
Advanced notes
A few extra details regarding the たり construction.
Lesson Summary
The たり〜たり form is an essential tool for describing your life and experiences by highlighting representative actions rather than giving a strict timeline.