-た and -たり meaning and etymology


I have done some research on where the so-called past tense, the -た form, came
from (after hearing that there is no such thing as conjugation in Japanese).

Through my research I read that it came from the archaic verb たる. I have read
that the so-called "particle" たり (as in "テレビを見たり、パソコンをしたりしている") has the same
origin.

Could you explain the actual grammar of -た and -たり as well as their etymology,
the meaning of たる, and provide some example phrases for me to understand their
literal meaning?




There are a few areas of confusion in your post.

### "There is no such thing as conjugation in Japanese"

I have no idea where you heard this, but this is simply not the case.

As one of my university professors often exhorted us, _" define your terms."_
A lot of confusion can be avoided by starting from the terminology.

So, what is "conjugation"?

  * Looking at Wikipedia's page for [Conjugation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugation), it's clear that we're talking here more specifically about [grammatical conjugation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjugation). That article explains the word as: 

> In [linguistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics), **conjugation**
> (//ˌkɒndʒʊˈɡeɪʃən//) is the creation of derived forms of a
> [verb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb) from its principal parts by
> [inflection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection) (alteration of form
> according to rules of [grammar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar)). For
> instance, the verb _break_ can be conjugated to form the words _break_ ,
> _breaks_ , _broke_ , _broken_ and _breaking_.

  * Japanese verbs definitely derive different forms by inflecting. For instance, the verb こわれる ("to break", intransitive) can be conjugated to form the words こわれる (plain non-past), こわれた (plain past), こわれて (plain conjunctive), こわれない (plain negative), こわれなかった (plain negative past), こわれさせる (plain causative), こわれられる (plain passive), こわれさせられる (plain causative passive), こわれさせられなくて (plain causative passive negative conjunctive), ... etc.

I can only think that whoever said that _" there is no such thing as
conjugation in Japanese"_ must be working from a different definition of
"conjugation".

### What is the derivation of the modern past-tense verb ending ～た?

My main source is the 日本国語大辞典【にほんこくごだいじてん】 (NKD), basically like the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) only for Japanese. Also, I am largely ignorant of the
various Japanese dialects — I know they exist, but I do not know usage
patterns, so the following is focused on mainstream 標準語【ひょうじゅんご】 or "media-
standard Japanese".

With that said, let's go down the rabbit hole!

[The NKD entry for ～た](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F-556028) explains
that this arose as a contraction of ～たる, itself the 連体形【れんたいけい】 or attributive
form of literary / classical verb ending ～たり. We first see this contracted ～た
ending in the speech of the warrior class all the way back in the late 1200s
or early 1300s in the 平家【へいけ】物語【ものがたり】 ([ _" The Tale of the
Heike"_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Heike)).

Digging further into the derivation of ～たり, we learn from [that
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8A-563266) that this is a
contraction of verb ending ～て + copular ("to be") verb あり.

The ～て ending is often described in English as a conjunctive ending, since the
basic meaning of constructions like `[VERB1]`て`[VERB2]` is often "`[VERB1]`
_and then_ `[VERB2]`". An example might be
「ご飯【はん】を食【た】べ[て]{●}、映画館【えいがかん】に行【い】く」 ("[I] eat my food, _and then_ [I] go to
the cinema"). Part of the intrinsic meaning in many of the uses of ～て come
from its derivation, as the 連用形【れんようけい】 or continuative / adverbial form of
completion auxiliary ～つ.

So ultimately, we have `[VERB continuative / adverbial stem]` + て (itself the
continuative / adverbial of つ) + あり. The meaning could be analyzed as `[VERB]`
+ `[completedness]` + "is": the action of the _verb_ is _complete_ , and the
resulting state _is_.

In modern Japanese, this is basically just the past tense: the action is done.
From "do", to "did", etc.

  * 食【た】べる → the "non-past" form. Basically, "[someone] eats", or "[someone] will eat".
  * 食【た】べた → the "past" form. Basically, "[someone] ate", or "[someone] has eaten".

### What is the grammar of ～たり?

The ～たり ending in Classical Japanese was both the 連用形【れんようけい】 ("continuative /
adverbial form", used to modify another verb or possibly a whole verbal
phrase) and the 終止形【しゅうしけい】 ("terminal / predicative form", used to end a
sentence, and before specific auxiliaries that require a terminated clause),
just as copular あり was both the 連用形【れんようけい】 and the 終止形【しゅうしけい】.

The ～たり ending persists in modern Japanese as the 連用形【れんようけい】, but as a kind
of fossil, only used in certain constructions. More specifically, this appears
when non-exhaustively listing a series of actions, basically saying "doing
`[VERB]` (and possibly other things too)".

For example, if asked what I did this weekend, I might say
「雑用【ざつよう】したり、両親【りょうしん】と電話【でんわ】したり、テレビゲームしたりしました。」 ("I did some chores, talked
with my folks on the phone, and played some video games, _among other
things_.") The ～たり～たり construction makes it clear that these are just some of
the things I did.

### What is the grammar of ～たる?

You'll see this attached to verbs pretty much only in Classical or very formal
Japanese. In terms of meaning, this is the same basic past-tense as above.
Grammatically, this is the 連体形【れんたいけい】 ("adnominal / attributive form") used
to modify a noun or nominal phrase. [This book about the Greek
myths](https://books.google.com/books?id=qcbYv2LT9ToC&pg=PA139&dq=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6p6H8ws_8AhWPADQIHTr7D9AQuwV6BAgHEAk#v=onepage&q=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B%22&f=false)
from 1935 (I think) contains an example (emphasis mine):

> 蓋【けだ】し冥府【めいふ】にて一【ひと】たび物【もの】 **食【た】べ[た]{●}[る]{●}**
> ものは必【かなら】ず又【また】冥府【めいふ】に赴【おもむ】かざるべからざる法【ほう】あればなり。  
>  This must be because there is a rule that anyone **who has eaten**
> something once in the land of the dead absolutely must return there.

#### A separate ～たる

There is a different ～たる suffix that you might find appended to nouns. This is
a contraction of ～と + ある, and is basically the same thing you see in the so-
called _to-taru_ adjectives, words like 堂々【どうどう】 ("magnificent, regal,
dignified"). The ～たる form is again the 連体形【れんたいけい】 or adnominal / attributive
form used to modify a noun, so this must generally be followed by a noun or
nominal phrase. The Digital Daijisen entry
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B-563315) includes a couple
of examples. This is also from Classical Japanese, and has a very old-
fashioned, formal, and stilted air to it, so don't use this in everyday
conversation unless you like getting funny looks from people.

* * *

Please comment if the above does not fully address your question, and I will
do my best to update it accordingly.




There are a few areas of confusion in your post.

### "There is no such thing as conjugation in Japanese"

I have no idea where you heard this, but this is simply not the case.

As one of my university professors often exhorted us, _" define your terms."_
A lot of confusion can be avoided by starting from the terminology.

So, what is "conjugation"?

  * Looking at Wikipedia's page for [Conjugation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugation), it's clear that we're talking here more specifically about [grammatical conjugation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjugation). That article explains the word as: 

> In [linguistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics), **conjugation**
> (//ˌkɒndʒʊˈɡeɪʃən//) is the creation of derived forms of a
> [verb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb) from its principal parts by
> [inflection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection) (alteration of form
> according to rules of [grammar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar)). For
> instance, the verb _break_ can be conjugated to form the words _break_ ,
> _breaks_ , _broke_ , _broken_ and _breaking_.

  * Japanese verbs definitely derive different forms by inflecting. For instance, the verb こわれる ("to break", intransitive) can be conjugated to form the words こわれる (plain non-past), こわれた (plain past), こわれて (plain conjunctive), こわれない (plain negative), こわれなかった (plain negative past), こわれさせる (plain causative), こわれられる (plain passive), こわれさせられる (plain causative passive), こわれさせられなくて (plain causative passive negative conjunctive), ... etc.

I can only think that whoever said that _" there is no such thing as
conjugation in Japanese"_ must be working from a different definition of
"conjugation".

### What is the derivation of the modern past-tense verb ending ～た?

My main source is the 日本国語大辞典【にほんこくごだいじてん】 (NKD), basically like the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) only for Japanese. Also, I am largely ignorant of the
various Japanese dialects — I know they exist, but I do not know usage
patterns, so the following is focused on mainstream 標準語【ひょうじゅんご】 or "media-
standard Japanese".

With that said, let's go down the rabbit hole!

[The NKD entry for ～た](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F-556028) explains
that this arose as a contraction of ～たる, itself the 連体形【れんたいけい】 or attributive
form of literary / classical verb ending ～たり. We first see this contracted ～た
ending in the speech of the warrior class all the way back in the late 1200s
or early 1300s in the 平家【へいけ】物語【ものがたり】 ([ _" The Tale of the
Heike"_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Heike)).

Digging further into the derivation of ～たり, we learn from [that
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8A-563266) that this is a
contraction of verb ending ～て + copular ("to be") verb あり.

The ～て ending is often described in English as a conjunctive ending, since the
basic meaning of constructions like `[VERB1]`て`[VERB2]` is often "`[VERB1]`
_and then_ `[VERB2]`". An example might be
「ご飯【はん】を食【た】べ[て]{●}、映画館【えいがかん】に行【い】く」 ("[I] eat my food, _and then_ [I] go to
the cinema"). Part of the intrinsic meaning in many of the uses of ～て come
from its derivation, as the 連用形【れんようけい】 or continuative / adverbial form of
completion auxiliary ～つ.

So ultimately, we have `[VERB continuative / adverbial stem]` + て (itself the
continuative / adverbial of つ) + あり. The meaning could be analyzed as `[VERB]`
+ `[completedness]` + "is": the action of the _verb_ is _complete_ , and the
resulting state _is_.

In modern Japanese, this is basically just the past tense: the action is done.
From "do", to "did", etc.

  * 食【た】べる → the "non-past" form. Basically, "[someone] eats", or "[someone] will eat".
  * 食【た】べた → the "past" form. Basically, "[someone] ate", or "[someone] has eaten".

### What is the grammar of ～たり?

The ～たり ending in Classical Japanese was both the 連用形【れんようけい】 ("continuative /
adverbial form", used to modify another verb or possibly a whole verbal
phrase) and the 終止形【しゅうしけい】 ("terminal / predicative form", used to end a
sentence, and before specific auxiliaries that require a terminated clause),
just as copular あり was both the 連用形【れんようけい】 and the 終止形【しゅうしけい】.

The ～たり ending persists in modern Japanese as the 連用形【れんようけい】, but as a kind
of fossil, only used in certain constructions. More specifically, this appears
when non-exhaustively listing a series of actions, basically saying "doing
`[VERB]` (and possibly other things too)".

For example, if asked what I did this weekend, I might say
「雑用【ざつよう】したり、両親【りょうしん】と電話【でんわ】したり、テレビゲームしたりしました。」 ("I did some chores, talked
with my folks on the phone, and played some video games, _among other
things_.") The ～たり～たり construction makes it clear that these are just some of
the things I did.

### What is the grammar of ～たる?

You'll see this attached to verbs pretty much only in Classical or very formal
Japanese. In terms of meaning, this is the same basic past-tense as above.
Grammatically, this is the 連体形【れんたいけい】 ("adnominal / attributive form") used
to modify a noun or nominal phrase. [This book about the Greek
myths](https://books.google.com/books?id=qcbYv2LT9ToC&pg=PA139&dq=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6p6H8ws_8AhWPADQIHTr7D9AQuwV6BAgHEAk#v=onepage&q=%22%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B%22&f=false)
from 1935 (I think) contains an example (emphasis mine):

> 蓋【けだ】し冥府【めいふ】にて一【ひと】たび物【もの】 **食【た】べ[た]{●}[る]{●}**
> ものは必【かなら】ず又【また】冥府【めいふ】に赴【おもむ】かざるべからざる法【ほう】あればなり。  
>  This must be because there is a rule that anyone **who has eaten**
> something once in the land of the dead absolutely must return there.

#### A separate ～たる

There is a different ～たる suffix that you might find appended to nouns. This is
a contraction of ～と + ある, and is basically the same thing you see in the so-
called _to-taru_ adjectives, words like 堂々【どうどう】 ("magnificent, regal,
dignified"). The ～たる form is again the 連体形【れんたいけい】 or adnominal / attributive
form used to modify a noun, so this must generally be followed by a noun or
nominal phrase. The Digital Daijisen entry
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8B-563315) includes a couple
of examples. This is also from Classical Japanese, and has a very old-
fashioned, formal, and stilted air to it, so don't use this in everyday
conversation unless you like getting funny looks from people.

* * *

Please comment if the above does not fully address your question, and I will
do my best to update it accordingly.

