Videos on “Morning Routine” are recently very popular on YouTube. Today we are going to learn how to explain your Morning Routine in Japanese, with typical morning verbs, using “te, te” and “tari tari suru”.

I will tell you what I do in the morning as an example. I get up at 8, I take a shower, eat breakfast – not much although drinking coffee and eating some cookies is a must for me. Then normally I go to work.

In Japanese:

あさ8じにおきる(おきます)
シャワーをあびる(あびます)
コーヒーをのむ(のみます)
クッキーをたべる(たべます)
しごとにいく(いきます)

朝、8時に起きる(起きます)。
シャワーを浴びる(浴びます)。
コーヒーを飲む(飲みます)。
クッキーを食べる(食べます)。
仕事に行く(行きます)。

And you join all the sentences with そして.

朝、8時に起きます。
そして、シャワーを浴びます。
そして、コーヒーを飲みます。
そして、クッキーを食べます。
そして、仕事に行きます。

How to use Te-form

The point is that, although you can say it this way without problems, it takes a long time to say like that. Therefore you can make it shorter, using “te, te”.

All the acts that I have said are fixed, I mean, I do them every day in that order. None would be missing and I don’t change the order. In that case you can use the te-form of the verbs to join them.

The Te-form of each verb are as follows:

起(お)きて
浴(あ)びて
飲(の)んで
食(た)べて

And we leave the last verb, in this routine would be いく, unconjugated. It would be like this:

あさ、8じにおきて、シャワーをあびて、コーヒーをのんで、クッキーをたべて、しごとにいく(いきます)。

朝、8時に起きて、シャワーを浴びて、コーヒーを飲んで、クッキーを食べて、仕事に行く(行きます)。

Here, the そして connector is not needed as it already indicates the actions are continued using the Te-form.

How to use Te-form + Tari Tari Suru

Now let’s think about the weekend mornings. You get up and shower and have breakfast but you are not going to a fixed place, like work or school.

Maybe you go out with your family, friends, or rest at home watching TV, the Internet, or go to the gym if you feel like it … Basically you don’t have a fixed plan, and that’s why, we don’t use the form-te for that part, but use “tari tari suru”, to say, “sometimes I do this, I do the other”.

(わたしは)
ちもだちと　でかける(でかけます)
I go out with my friends.

テレビを　みる(みます)
I watch TV.

ジムに　いく(いきます)
I go to the gym.

“Tari” is based on the Te-form, but you must remove the last て and put たり. And to finish the sentence, you must add the verb する, which means to do, at the end of the sentence and in this way you add the feeling of “etc”.

ともだちとでかけたり、テレビをみたり、ジムにいったり、する(します)。

友達と出かけたり、テレビを見たり、ジムに行ったり、する(します)。

So let’s say from the start for a Saturday morning. Maybe you get up a little later on Saturdays, then,

どようびは、あさ10じにおきて、シャワーをあびて、コーヒーをのんで、クッキーをたべて、(そのあとで/から) ともだちとでかけたり、テレビをみたり、ジムにいったり、する(します)。

土曜日は、朝10時に起きて、シャワーを浴びて、コーヒーを飲んで、クッキーを食べて、(その後で／から) 、友達と出かけたり、テレビを見たり、ジムに行ったり、する(します)。

On Saturdays I get up at 10, shower, drink coffee and eat some cookies, and then do something like go out with my friends, watch TV or go to the gym.

In summary

To group some actions in a sentence, there are two ways:

If they are in a routine that you always do in the same order, conjugate the verbs in Te-Form, leaving the last verb unconjugated.

If they are things that are usually done but not always, use “tari tari suru”.

ジムでは、まずじてんしゃにのって、それからはしったり、ヨガのクラスをうけたりします。

ジムでは、まず自転車に乗って、それから走ったり、ヨガのクラスを受けたりします。

In the gym, I ride bike first and then sometimes I run on a machine or do a Yoga class.

This means that in a gym you always exercise on the bike first, but after that, not in a particular order, you might run or take a yoga class.