や in Japanese – This, That and More
や in Japanese, (pronounced ya) is a particle for listing or connecting other nouns together. It is similar to other listing particles such as と and も but instead has a nuance of not listing every possibility. Let me explain more in detail below.
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What does や mean?
や is translated from Japanese to English most of the time as and. It can also mean or though in the right context. や is a Japanese particle that connects nouns together. But the words it connects together are only a sample of the possible words that could have been chosen.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/For example, if someone asked you what you ate yesterday you could say apple and oranges. This may not be everything but by using や it means that these are some of the things you ate:
昨日リンゴやオレンジを食べた
yesterday I ate apples and oranges (for example)
や in Japanese Often Shows up with など
As stated already, や is a particle that connects other words but does not list everything. や has a nuance of there being other things left unsaid. For that reason you will often use や together with another particle, など. This particle means something close to etcetera, so on, for example, and etc. When you see this, it is more obvious that you are listing only a portion of what there actually was to list.
日曜日はいつも映画やYoutubeなどを見ている
I am always watching movies, Youtube, and so on on Sunday (I also watch Netflix)
How や is used in Real Life
Japanese is a very contextual language. Meaning, the situations that certain words are used will depend on the relationship between the people involved and their physical surroundings.
や is one of many listing particles in Japanese. It is similar to the listing particle と but it has more of a polite nuance to it. So, in situations where people are talking with friends it is less likely they will use や.
Since と and や don’t mean exactly the same thing though friends may use it with each other and it would not be weird. But, they may use other words such as とか instead which is more informal.
