LearnJapanese Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese




Listing multiple verbs

Posted by Tae Kim

Partial list of verbs

In the second chapter, we learned how to list multiple nouns using 「と」、「や」、and 「とか」. Using the te-form, we now know how to list multiple verb clauses similar to 「と」. However, in order to create a partial list of verbs similar to 「や」 and 「とか」, we must use another construction described below.

Rule for creating partial list of verbs
  • Conjugate all the verbs to the past tense and attach 「り」 to each verb. Finally, add 「する」 at the end.
    1. 食べ → 食べた+り → 食べたり
    2. → 飲んだ+り → 飲んだり
    3. 食べたり飲んだりする
      Do things like eating and drinking.

Example

  1. 寝る 【ね・る】(ru-verb) - to sleep
  2. ビール - beer
  3. スポーツ - sports
  4. 散歩 【さん・ぽ】 - walk, stroll
  1. 寝たり、本を読んだりするのが好き。
    Like to do things like sleeping and reading book(s).
  2. ビールを飲んだり、テレビを見たりしました
    (I) did things like drink beer and watch tv.
  3. スポーツをしたり、散歩をしたりしますか。
    Do (you) do things like sports and strolls?

Partial list of reasons

There may be more than one reason for something but 「から」 and 「ので」 can only connect two sentences. Once again, we can use the te-form to list multiple verbs for one reason. However, if we want to imply that the list is only several among a larger list of potential reasons, we can add 「し」 to the end of each verb clause.

Note:: You must add 「だ」 for plain nouns and na-adjectives.

  • 彼女は、きれい、優しくて、頭もいいから、皆に人気がある。
    Because she is pretty, gentle, and smart, (she's) popular with everybody.
  • 彼女は、きれいだし、優しい、頭もいいから、皆に人気がある。
    Because she is pretty, gentle, and smart (among other reasons), (she's) popular with everybody.

Examples

  1. 暑い 【あつ・い】(i-adj) - hot (for climate/weather only)
  2. 授業 【じゅ・ぎょう】 - class
  3. プール - pool
  4. 疲れる 【つか・れる】(ru-verb) - to get tired
  5. 眠い 【ねむ・い】(i-adj) - sleepy
  1. 今日は暑い、授業もないから、プールに行こう。
    Because today is hot (among other reasons) and there's also no class so let's go to the pool.
  2. 疲れた、眠い、今日はどこにも行きたくないよ。
    (I'm) tired and sleepy (among other reasons), (I) don't want to go anywhere today.

Just hanging out again

  1. 音楽 【おん・がく】 - music
  2. うそ - lie; no way
  3. 同じ 【おな・じ】 - same

アリス: 昨日は、何をしていたの?
Alice: What were you doing yesterday?

ジョン: 宿題はなかった、暇だったから、テレビを見たり、音楽を聞いたりしていたよ。アリスちゃんは?
John: There was no homework and (I) was free (among other reasons) so (I) watched TV and listened to music (among other things). What about (you) Alice-chan.

アリス: 宿題はあったよ。それをしていたよ。
Alice: There was homework. (I) was doing that, you know.

ジョン: うそ!
John: No way!

アリス: どうするの?
Alice: What are you going to do?

ジョン: 大丈夫。授業を聞きながらするから。
John: (It's) ok. (I'll) do it while listening to class.

アリス: いつもと同じね。
Alice: Same as always, huh?

アリス: いつもと同じね。 In the above,

アリス: いつもと同じね。

In the above, is a most literal translation: "Always and same, huh?"

Is the "and" 「と」 being used here, or does this 「と」 have some other purpose, perhaps yet to be introduced?


I'm not entirely sure how to

I'm not entirely sure how to give you a literal translation of this と but it's not exactly 'and' in this instance. It might be best to consider と同じ as a set phrase that means "the same as". For example,

今日の天気は昨日と同じですね。

The weather today is THE SAME AS it was yesterday.

There are a lot of structures which use と in a way other than as "and" but in this case, considering と同じ a set phrase seems the easiest way to go about it.


ジョン:

ジョン: 宿題はなかったし、暇だったから、テレビを見たり、音楽を聞いたりしていたよ。アリスちゃんは?

Shouldn't it be 宿題じゃなかったし (じゃ instead of は)? Or is it no typo?


I don't think so. 宿題じゃなかった --

I don't think so.
宿題じゃなかった -- it wasn't homework
宿題はなかった -- there wasn't (any) homework


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