TAKOBOTO

doing things like V+ing
Yesterday I did things like watching tv and playing video games.
Vたり、　Vたり　します。

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のんだり、たべたり、うたったり、ダンスをしたり、おおいにたのしみました。

We drank, ate, sung, danced - we generally had one big fun time!

でのんだりたべたりおどったりした。

We did things like drinking, eating and dancing at the party.

わたしたちはせんせいにほめられたりしかられたりします。

Sometimes we are praised and sometimes scolded by our teachers.

なつにはとざんしたりする。

In summer I do things like mountain climbing.

わたしはあさコーヒーをのんだりのまなかったりする。

Sometimes I drink coffee in the morning and sometimes I don't.

てんきによってふじさんがみえたりみえなかったりする。

Sometimes Mt.Fuji can be seen and sometimes it can't be seen, depending on the weather.

きんようびにはきむらさんはきたりこなかったりします。

On Fridays, Mr.Kimura sometimes comes and sometimes he doesn't.

あのみせのほうそうしはあかかったりしろかったりあおかったりします。

The wrapping paper at that store is sometimes red, sometimes white and sometimes blue.

このレポートのデータはただしかったりただしくなかったりする。

The data in this report is sometimes correct and sometimes not (correct).

The [-tari] form is used when a sequence of verbs occur in a row. The last one cannot be a tari, it needs to conclude the sentence.

normal:
　食べたり、飲んだり、のんびりしました。
　Eating and drinking, I relaxed.

neg:
　読まなかったり、行きたくなかったり、何もしなかったり、悪い人でした。
　not reading, not going, not doing anything, he was a bad guy.

with adjectives:
　サービスは良かったり、値段安かったり、、いいんじゃない？
　good service, low prices... alright eh?

neg with adjectives:
　サービスが悪かったり、値段が高くなかったり、、、
the service is not bad, the prices aren't high...

dc

Is also used fo repeated actions, like:
Watashi wa nomitari tabetari shimasu.
(I drank and ate repeatedly)
You must add "suru/shimasu" at the end.

Ayumi

I changed this grammar note a little. [tari suru]
form means "doing things like". the Verb takes the plain past tense form IE 食べる become 食べた and then you add the り
買う will become 買った　then you add the り,etc...

きのう、私は テレビを見たり、ゲームをしたり しました。

tigert

-し is usually used for phrases that describes your subject. for example you can say that you like a certain singer because he has a good voice, nice attitude and he is handsome. you end the sentence with a conclusion that you like the singer, and enumerate the reasons by using し.

infinite_trial

I have never encountered a たり form where the last verb was not する. I learned you should do:

V-たり、V-たり、V-たりする。

KyleGoetz

Many rather stupid and simple examples. :3; ...Vocabulary practise, yes?

Naino

in notes, neg: it should be 何もしなかったり instaed of 何もしなかたり.

Miki

fixed. thanks for your help explaining this one... if only entering it in the website would substitute for remembering it!

dc

This should be in GR category.

bamboo4

Hey Molu, tari doesn`t specify what order the things happened in. it just expresses the idea that you did things like Vtari, and Vtari.

Also I think that a Vtari statement must end in する or できる。

tigert

can anyone come up with the conjugation rule?

wrooffy

do the actions follow the exact sequence? for example maiasa koohii o nonde kara shimbun o yomimasu. or shimbun o yomu maeni koohii o nomimasu. here the sequence is explicit. does this apply to tari form as well?

molu

do the actions follow the exact sequence? for example maiasa koohii o nonde kara shimbun o yomimasu. or shimbun o yomu maeni koohii o nomimasu. here the sequence is explicit. does this apply to tari form as well?

molu

My teacher told me -たり actually means more like "we did things such as... blah blah." It's more generalizing, not specifying, isn't it? That is what my teacher told me. He also told me the same meaning for -し, but I can't really find such an explanation for the usage of -し anywhere - is it the same?

gtunak85

to my understanding the [V-tari] is simply the [V-ta] + "ri", hence (as in the WWWJDIC example):
飲む - 飲んだり
食べる - 食べたり
歌う - 歌ったり
する - したり
and (as gtunak85's 先生 says) it's used to "examplify" things done, eg, "we did things like this and this and that", where (as usual) the last verb determinates the tempus for all the verbs in the sentance.

At least that's my understanding of it, but I've only been studying since august so I could be wrong...

mojibake

[shi] is more like a separate word (conjunction?) whereas [-tari] is a verb ending (conjugation?)

dc