たり

From the 終(しゅう)止(し)形(けい) (shūshikei, “terminal form”) of the classical tari below.

• (Tokyo) たり [tàrí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ɾʲi]

たり • (tari) 

1. 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.

Attaches to the て (te)-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 + り (ri).

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as a 助(じょ)詞(し) (joshi, “auxiliary word, particle”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

/-te ari/ → /-tari/

Contraction of て (te), the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of the classical perfective つ (tsu), and あり (to be; to exist).

• IPA^(key): [ta̠ɾʲi]

たり • (-tari) ^†-ri

1. (Classical Japanese) Used to form the stative of verbs.

   時(とき)は来(き)たり！

   Toki wa kitari!

   It's time!

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as a 助(じょ)動(どう)詞(し) (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

• た (-ta, past/perfective suffix)
• たら (conditional suffix)
• -たり (above)

/-to ari/ → /-tari/

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

• IPA^(key): [ta̠ɾʲi]

たり • (tari) ^†-ri

1. (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

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.