たり

Japanese

Etymology 1

From the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) of the classical tari below.

Particle

Shows examples of actions or states.
テレビを見(み)たり、パソコンをしたりしている。
Terebi o mitari, pasokon o shitari shite iru.
I'm (doing things like) watching TV and playing on the computer.

Usage notes

Attaches to the -て stem of verbs, adjectives, and nominals, in the same way as the past/perfective ending た (ta). (The result is segmentally identical to the past/perfective form ri.)

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助詞 (joshi, “auxiliary word; particle”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Etymology 2

/-te ari/ → /-tari/

Contraction of て (te), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of the classical perfective つ (tsu), and あり (ari, “to be; to exist”).

Suffix

たり • (-tari) ^†-ri

(Classical Japanese) Used to form the stative of verbs.
時(とき)は来(き)たり！
Toki wa kitari!
It's time!

Usage notes

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "たり" (ラ行変格活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	たら	tara
Continuative (連用形)	たり	tari
Terminal (終止形)	たり	tari
Attributive (連体形)	たる	taru
Realis (已然形)	たれ	tare
Imperative (命令形)	たれ	tare

Derived terms

た (-ta, past or perfective)
たら (-tara, conditional)
たり (-tari) (above)

Etymology 3

/-to ari/ → /-tari/

Contraction of the case particle と (to) and the verb あり (ari, “to be; to exist”).

Verb

たり • (tari) ^†-ri

(Classical Japanese or archaic) to be
処(しょ)女(じょ)たる女(め)神(がみ)
shojo taru megami
virgin goddess

一瞬(いっしゅん)たりともできない
isshun tari to mo dekinai
(modern language, literary) cannot do it even for a moment

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "たり" (タリ活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	たら	tara
Continuative (連用形)	と^[1] たり^[2]	to tari
Terminal (終止形)	たり	tari
Attributive (連体形)	たる	taru
Realis (已然形)	たれ	tare
Imperative (命令形)	たれ	tare
Key constructions
Negative	たらず	tarazu
Contrasting conjunction	たれど	taredo
Causal conjunction	たれば	tareba
Conditional conjunction	たらば	taraba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	たりき	tariki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	たりけり	tarikeri
Adverbial	と	to
^[1]Without auxiliary verb. ^[2]With auxiliary verb.

In modern Japanese, the continuative と (to) or として (to shite) and the adnominal たる (taru) are used with the so-called -tari adjectives.