たり〜たりする details
write + (past) + do things like A and B
kaita risuru
do things like A and B; sometimes A, sometimes B
meaning: do things like writing
休みの日は、寝たりゲームしたりしてるだけだよ。
yasumi no hi wa, netari geemu shitari shiteru dake da yo.
On my days off I just do stuff like sleeping and gaming. casual
朝から雨が降ったりやんだりしている。
asa kara ame ga futtari yandari shite iru.
It's been raining on and off since morning. neutral
- past
- polite
Examples
do things like A and B — a non-exhaustive sample of what happened, with more implied
休みの日は、寝たりゲームしたりしてるだけだよ。
yasumi no hi wa, netari geemu shitari shiteru dake da yo.
On my days off I just do stuff like sleeping and gaming. casual
週末は、映画を見たり買い物に行ったりします。
shuumatsu wa, eiga o mitari kaimono ni ittari shimasu.
On weekends I do things like watching movies and going shopping. neutral
館内では、写真を撮ったり飲食したりなさらないでください。
kannai de wa, shashin o tottari inshoku shitari nasaranaide kudasai.
Inside the building, please refrain from taking photographs, eating, drinking, and the like. formal
sometimes A, sometimes B — two states or motions alternating back and forth
朝から雨が降ったりやんだりしている。
asa kara ame ga futtari yandari shite iru.
It's been raining on and off since morning. neutral
さっきから廊下を行ったり来たりして、どうしたの？
sakki kara rouka o ittari kitari shite, dou shita no?
You've been pacing up and down the hall for a while now — what's wrong? casual
Formation
{V-ta}りするattaches to た-form
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
Both hang two actions on one stretch of time — ながら runs exactly two, strictly at once, under one subject; たり〜たり samples an open, unordered list whose members merely take turns across the span.
Both demote an event from habit to sometimes — 遅れることがある and 遅れたりする can describe the same bus, but ことがある asserts the frequency of that one event ("it does happen at times"), while たり〜たり offers it as a sampled item from a longer, unstated list.
Lookalikes
One kana apart on the same た-stem — 行ったり samples "doing things like going", 行ったら sets a condition "once (I) go"; the り/ら swap flips a list into a conditional.