Doing two things

Conjugations, Stage 2chunk 1 of 4Verb forms

Three ways to fit two actions in one sentence: as examples (-tari), at the same time (-nagara), or one without the other (-zu ni).

-tari ... -tariDoing things like A and B, among other things.
-nagaraDoing one thing while doing another (same person).
-zu niWithout doing it.

Mix-ups Each takes a different stem: -tari the past (tabetari), -nagara the -masu stem (tabenagara), -zu ni the negative stem (tabezu ni). Mixing the stems is the usual slip.

-tari ... -tari

things like (-tari)〜たり〜たり

Doing things like A and B, among other things.

Listing sample activities, usually closed with suru: eiga mitari, kaimono shitari shita. A single -tari keeps it vague (netari shiteta = I was sleeping and stuff).

Make it Past form + ri: tabetari, kattari, nondari, shitari, kitari. Close the list with suru (-tari -tari suru).

Polite -tari ... -tari shimasu

-tari lists examples; -te strings actions in order (eiga mite, kaimono shita = watched a movie, then shopped).

taberu	tabetari	食べたり
miru	mitari	見たり
kau	kattari	買ったり
matsu	mattari	待ったり
kaeru	kaettari	帰ったり
nomu	nondari	飲んだり
asobu	asondari	遊んだり
kaku	kaitari	書いたり
oyogu	oyoidari	泳いだり
hanasu	hanashitari	話したり
iku	ittari	行ったり
suru	shitari	したり
kuru	kitari	来たり

casual

shuumatsu wa eiga mitari, kaimono shitari shita

At the weekend I watched movies, went shopping, that kind of thing.

週末は映画見たり、買い物したりした

polite

shuumatsu wa eiga o mitari, kaimono o shitari shimashita

At the weekend I watched movies and went shopping, among other things.

週末は映画を見たり、買い物をしたりしました

Heard 3,393× in 3.17 million lines of film and TV subtitles (0.15% of verbs)

-nagara

while doing〜ながら

Doing one thing while doing another (same person).

Two actions at once by one person: arukinagara, terebi minagara. The main action comes last.

Make it -masu stem + nagara. Ichidan: drop -ru (tabenagara). Godan: change the final -u to -i (nominagara, hanashinagara). suru → shinagara, kuru → kinagara.

Only for one person doing both. When someone else does the other thing, use -te iru aida (while they...).

taberu	tabenagara	食べながら
miru	minagara	見ながら
kau	kainagara	買いながら
matsu	machinagara	待ちながら
kaeru	kaerinagara	帰りながら
nomu	nominagara	飲みながら
asobu	asobinagara	遊びながら
kaku	kakinagara	書きながら
oyogu	oyoginagara	泳ぎながら
hanasu	hanashinagara	話しながら
iku	ikinagara	行きながら
suru	shinagara	しながら
kuru	kinagara	来ながら

casual

itsumo terebi minagara gohan tabeteru

I always eat while watching TV.

いつもテレビ見ながらご飯食べてる

polite

itsumo terebi o minagara gohan o tabemasu

I always eat while watching TV.

いつもテレビを見ながらご飯を食べます

Heard 1,489× in 3.17 million lines of film and TV subtitles (0.07% of verbs)Main list -nagara (Stage 4)

-zu ni

without doing〜ずに

Without doing it.

Doing one thing without the other: nani mo iwazu ni kaetta. In chat -naide is more common; -zu ni turns up in stories and set phrases (wasurezu ni).

Make it Negative stem + zu ni. Ichidan: drop -ru (tabezu ni). Godan: change the final -u to -a (kawazu ni, ikazu ni). suru → sezu ni, kuru → kozu ni.

suru becomes sezu ni, not shizu ni. -naide means the same and is the everyday choice (tabenaide).

taberu	tabezu ni	食べずに
miru	mizu ni	見ずに
kau	kawazu ni	買わずに
matsu	matazu ni	待たずに
kaeru	kaerazu ni	帰らずに
nomu	nomazu ni	飲まずに
asobu	asobazu ni	遊ばずに
kaku	kakazu ni	書かずに
oyogu	oyogazu ni	泳がずに
hanasu	hanasazu ni	話さずに
iku	ikazu ni	行かずに
suru	sezu ni	せずに
kuru	kozu ni	来ずに

casual

nani mo iwazu ni kaetchatta

He went home without saying anything.

何も言わずに帰っちゃった

polite

nani mo iwazu ni kaette shimaimashita

He went home without saying a word.

何も言わずに帰ってしまいました

Heard 6,061× in 3.17 million lines of film and TV subtitles (0.27% of verbs)