Hello! I was just wondering what the difference between こと,たり and て were and when to use each one for connecting more than 1 verb in a sentence e.g... 見ることと。。。 食べたり、。。。します 行って。。 Thanks so much!!
Hi! This is going to be a bit long because all 3 of these are different grammar points I’ll have to explain. Hold tight! 👩🏼🏫
VERB + こと
In Japanese, in order to use a verb like a noun you have to use こと after that verb. You may also use の, but this is more casual so don’t mix it in with formal Japanese. To be safe, stick with こと as it is always accepted.
This would appear in this instance: 趣味はテレビを見ることと泳ぐことです。It may also appear in something like ピザと馬と日本語を勉強することが好きです。You’ve essentially turned the verb into a noun. Its “formal” title is called nominalization – which is the act of turning something into a noun.
Other cases you may see this: 食べたことがある. ことがある is a grammar point that basically translates to “something happens.” When used with the past tense form of a verb before こと, it becomes “something that has/hasn’t happened.” So you can say, 抹茶を食べたことがない which means “I have not eaten matcha.” In this case, の doesn’t replace こと because ことがある is a set grammar structure that exists all over Japanese.
〜たり〜する
This grammar point has some relation to the て-form way of connecting verbs, but it crops up ALL over Japanese speech because it is like you’re basically saying “this [but other stuff too] happened.”
If someone says, “先週末は何をしましたか？” you can respond with, “友達と遊んだり買い物したりしました” which says that you played with friends and shopped, but you didn’t do it in that specific order and you may have done other stuff as well.
〜たり〜する is something often used by Japanese people because it gives them a little bit of freedom. So you wouldn’t necessarily use this one to list verbs so much as to list things that you did!
て
Probably the most important thing to know how to use in Japanese is the て form of a verb. When connecting sentences, the て form is a great way to do it. But when listing verbs: be careful. The て form has the nuance of this happened and then this happened and then this happened. Where 〜たり〜する has less structure, て has all the structure.
If you say 友達と遊んで買い物して帰ってきました then you’re saying you went out with friends, shopped, and then came home. You didn’t do anything else and you did it in this order. It’s a little more restrictive, and listing verbs this way presents a sort of order that 〜たり〜する takes away.
て is useful when connecting sentences or when you want to drop a sentence’s tense for the sake of being more casual, but when it comes to connecting verbs, it isn’t always used because it is a bit more restrictive. It’s great for connecting sentences though, and it’s commonly used in that form!
I hope this helps and if you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask ❤️
