The particle や

The particle や is the particle of the non-exhaustive enumeration. The particle や, like the particle と, is used to list one or more nouns, but we are going to imply that the list we are making is not complete, it is not exhaustive.

The use of this particle is exactly the same as with the particle と.

Now it is said, let’s see some examples :

Mitsuko, Yotsuba, Wakatsuki, etc → 三子や四葉や若月。

Among others Matsui, Kuroda and Miho. → 松井や黒田や美帆。

Kaori, Kadokura or even Mikami. → 香織や門倉や三上。

You can see that in English we will translate the particle や as « etc », « among others » or « or even ».

In the three lists of people we have compiled, it is implied that we have not named everyone.

Formerly, when we had the particle と, we said :

マリオと香織とピーターだ。
マリオとかおりとピーターだ。
They are Mario, Kaori and Peter.

Now, with the particle や, we say :

マリオや香織やピーターだ。
マリオやかおりやピーターだ。
These are among others Mario, Kaori and Peter.

The particle や makes it clear that my list is not complete. Enumerating non-exhaustive lists will be very useful to us later, especially when we have other verbs to be able to say for example :

I visited the Palace of Versailles, the Louvres museum…
I bought apples, pears, bananas…
I have traveled to France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark…

Please note : as with the particle と, the particle や is NOT applicable to verbs. It is only applicable to nouns.

Okay, so far, you’ve probably figured out how this particle works. I will still give you some additional examples :

アレクサンドラのスカートやドレスや帽子だ。
アレクサンドラのスカートやドレスやぼうしだ。
These are among other things the skirt, the dress and the hat of Alexandra.

平中のギターやピアノやシロホンだ。
ひらなかのギターやピアノやシロホンだ。
These are among other things the guitar, the piano and the xylophone of Hiranaka.

河井のコートやハットだ。
かわいのコートやハットだ。
These are among other things the coat and hat of Kawai.

ムフロンや羊や山羊や鼠だ。
ムフロンやひつじややぎやねずみだ。
These are among others a mouflon, a sheep, a goat and a mouse.

栗鼠や兎や猫や針鼠だ。
りすやうさぎやねこやはりねずみだ。
These are among others a squirrel, a rabbit, a cat and a hedgehog.

靴や下駄や靴下やスニーカーだ。
くつやげたやくつしたやスニーカーだ。
These are among other shoes, Japanese sandals, socks and sneakers.

狐や熊や鷲や蟻だ。
きつねやくまやわしやありだ。
These are among others a fox, a bear, an eagle and ant.

アリスのオカリナやブラジャーやミニスカートだ。
These include Alice’s ocarina, bra and mini skirt.

This is our third particle course and you already see all the possibilities and nuances that we can find in a Japanese sentence depending on the particle used. You also understand why it is important to see each of these particles on a case-by-case basis in order to fully analyze all these possibilities and these nuances offered by each particle.

Also note that, unlike the particle と, the particle や cannot be used after a word. We saw in the previous lesson that the particle と can be used after a word to say « with ». The particle や, is only the particle of the non-exhaustive enumeration.

Also, as said above, the particle や is used to enumerate a non-exhaustive list. This does not mean that the particle と necessarily draws up an exhaustive list.

Many learners often confuse them by mistakenly believing that if the particle や implies that the enumerated list is non-exhaustive, then the particle と implies that the enumerated list must be exhaustive. But no ! Absolutely not ! You can definitely use the particle と to make an exhaustive list as well as a non-exhaustive list. Remember that the particle と is only the particle of the enumeration. And that’s all ! You can absolutely use the particle と to list your shopping list for example, without naming all the content of your list. You can also list the countries you have visited during your life without actually naming them all. You can also enumerate a list of people within a group with the particle と, that doesn’t mean there is no one else inside the group you’re talking about.

With the particle と, we list what we consider important, from a subjective point of view.

Note that, undoubtedly for this reason, the particle と is used much more by the Japanese themselves than the particle や. So, you have a better chance of coming across the particle と during a discussion or while reading a manga, a novel, a light novel…

Finally, I’ll leave you to your exercises, some theme and some version as usual, and of course these sentences require the use of the particle や. In the exercise where you have to translate Japanese sentences into English, do not forget to include the little word that expresses the non-exhaustiveness.

This course is now over, thank you for reading it. Keep up the good work, don’t hesitate to go back to revise the previous lessons and I hope to see you again very soon.

Have a good day everyone and do your homework properly.