When you chain verbs with the て-form, you present a complete, ordered sequence: I did A, then B, then C. But often that is not what you mean. You mean I did things like A and B — a couple of representative examples pulled from a larger, unordered set. That is the job of 〜たり〜たり. It is the "etc." of verbs: it explicitly flags the list as a sample, not the full itinerary, and it closes with する to tie the whole thing off. This page covers how to build it, why the closing する is non-negotiable, and the vivid extra life たり has for describing repeated, alternating, back-and-forth motion.
How to build it: the past-た base plus り
たり is built on the plain past (た-form), not the dictionary form. Take the た-form, and simply add り. Whatever voicing the past tense has (た or だ) carries straight over into たり / だり:
| Verb | Plain past | たり-form |
|---|---|---|
| 読（よ）む (read) | 読んだ | 読んだり |
| 食（た）べる (eat) | 食べた | 食べたり |
| 行（い）く (go) | 行った | 行ったり |
| する (do) | した | したり |
| 来（く）る (come) | 来た | 来たり |
Because it rides on the past base, the hardest part for English speakers is that たり looks like a past-tense form but carries no past meaning of its own — the tense of the whole sentence is set by the closing する at the end. たり itself is tenseless.
週末は本を読んだり、映画を見たりする。
shūmatsu wa hon o yondari, eiga o mitari suru
On weekends I do things like read books and watch films.
日曜日は掃除したり、洗濯したりする。
nichiyōbi wa sōji shitari, sentaku shitari suru
On Sundays I do the cleaning, the laundry, that sort of thing.
Notice how English reaches for "things like… and…" or "…, that sort of thing" — that hedge is the meaning たり adds. A plain English "and" list flattens it.
The closing する is not optional
The single most important structural fact: a たり list is closed by する (or した, します, している — whatever tense and politeness you need). The たり clauses are like a subordinate clause; する is the actual predicate that anchors them to a time and a level of politeness.
昨日はテレビを見たり、ゲームをしたりしました。
kinō wa terebi o mitari, gēmu o shitari shimashita
Yesterday I watched TV, played games, and so on.
Here 見たり and したり are tenseless; it is the final しました that makes the whole sentence past and polite. Swap it for する and the sentence becomes a habitual present; swap it for している and it becomes ongoing. The closing verb is the steering wheel.
When the たり items are adjectives or nouns rather than verbs, the same logic holds but you close with the copula (だ／です／で) instead of する:
最近は暑かったり寒かったりで、体調を崩しやすい。
saikin wa atsukattari samukattari de, taichō o kuzushiyasui
Lately it's hot one day and cold the next, so it's easy to get run down.
メンバーは学生だったり、社会人だったり、いろいろだ。
menbā wa gakusei dattari, shakaijin dattari, iroiro da
The members are students, working people, all sorts.
Why "representative" matters: sample, not sequence
The deep contrast with the て-form is about exhaustiveness and order. て-chaining says "these are the events, in this order, and that is the full story." たり says "here are a couple of examples of the kind of thing that happens — there's more, and the order isn't the point." Compare:
- 朝起（お）きて、顔を洗（あら）って、ご飯を食べる。→ a fixed morning routine, in sequence. (て-form)
- 休みの日は、本を読んだり、映画を見たりする。→ a sample of leisure activities; you also do other things, in no fixed order. (たり)
This is why たり pairs so naturally with adverbs like たまに ("occasionally") and よく ("often") — you are describing the general texture of what happens, and a single representative たり is perfectly grammatical:
仕事に疲れて、たまにサボったりする。
shigoto ni tsukarete, tama ni sabottari suru
I get worn out at work and, once in a while, I slack off (and things like that).
One たり here does real work: it says "slacking off is just one example of the not-so-diligent things I sometimes do." A bare サボる would be a flat statement of fact; サボったりする softens it into "that kind of thing, sometimes."
The etc.-of-verbs also paints back-and-forth motion
Because たり's core is non-exhaustive, unordered repetition, it naturally describes alternating or erratic behaviour — two actions ping-ponging back and forth. This is a nuance a simple "and" cannot carry, and it produces some of the most idiomatic たり expressions in the language:
さっきから部屋の中を行ったり来たりしている。
sakki kara heya no naka o ittari kitari shite iru
I've been pacing back and forth in the room for a while now.
映画を見て、泣いたり笑ったりした。
eiga o mite, naitari warattari shita
Watching the film, I laughed and cried by turns.
行ったり来たり (literally "going and coming, and such") is not "I went and I came" as two events — it is the repeated back-and-forth itself. Likewise 泣いたり笑ったり is not a sequence of one cry then one laugh; it is the emotional see-sawing. The randomness that makes たり mean "etc." is the same randomness that makes it mean "back and forth."
たり also handles alternation between a thing and its opposite — doing X, and sometimes not doing X:
気分によって、朝ごはんを食べたり食べなかったりする。
kibun ni yotte, asagohan o tabetari tabenakattari suru
Depending on my mood, I sometimes eat breakfast and sometimes don't.
Common mistakes
Mistake 1 — Forgetting the closing する. A たり list is grammatically incomplete without する (or a copula for adjective/noun lists). In careful speech and all writing it must be there.
❌ 休みの日は、料理を作ったり、散歩したり。
Incomplete in standard use — the たり list needs a closing する to anchor its tense.
✅ 休みの日は、料理を作ったり、散歩したりする。
yasumi no hi wa, ryōri o tsukuttari, sanpo shitari suru
On my days off I do things like cook and go for walks.
Mistake 2 — Using たり for a fixed sequence where the て-form belongs. If you mean an ordered, complete series of steps, たり is wrong — it forces a "random sample" reading onto a routine.
❌ 朝起きたり、顔を洗ったり、ご飯を食べたりする。
Wrong for a set routine — this says 'I do things like get up, wash my face, eat,' as if there were other, unlisted steps in no fixed order.
✅ 朝起きて、顔を洗って、ご飯を食べる。
asa okite, kao o aratte, gohan o taberu
I get up, wash my face, and eat — in that order.
Mistake 3 — Attaching たり to the dictionary form. English speakers see 〜たり and glue it to the plain form. It attaches to the past (た) base.
❌ 本を読むたり、映画を見るたり。
Wrong base — たり goes on the past form, not the dictionary form.
✅ 本を読んだり、映画を見たりする。
hon o yondari, eiga o mitari suru
I do things like read books and watch films.
Mistake 4 — Marking only the first item with たり. In a standard list, each representative item takes たり — you don't tag the first and leave the rest as a plain verb.
❌ 本を読んだり、映画を見る。
Lopsided — the second item should also carry たり (and the list should close with する).
✅ 本を読んだり、映画を見たりする。
hon o yondari, eiga o mitari suru
I do things like read books and watch films.
Key takeaways
- 〜たり〜たり lists actions as non-exhaustive, unordered examples — "things like A and B" — where the て-form gives a complete, ordered sequence.
- Build it on the past (た) base plus り: 読む→読んだり, する→したり, 来る→来たり. たり itself is tenseless.
- Close with する (or だ／です／で for adjective/noun lists); that closing verb sets the tense and politeness of the whole sentence.
- A single representative たり is fine and idiomatic (たまにサボったりする).
- Because its essence is randomness, たり also paints alternation and back-and-forth motion: 行ったり来たり, 泣いたり笑ったり, 食べたり食べなかったり.
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