among other things
for example
such as
Structure
- Verb + とか + Verb ( とか )
- Noun + とか + Noun( とか )
Can be preceded by a verb phrase (や cannot)
For non-exhaustive lists
Hi, I am not clear on the difference between とか and など, it seems like they are both used with non-exhaustive lists
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Hey 
Their function is basically the same, but there are some differences in structure and formality.
- など is more formal than とか, so it is used in writing and when talking to superiors, people met the first time and the like. However, とか is used when talking to friends, family and generally people we are closer to. なんて, which is a casual variant of など can be used when talking to close people too.
Examples:
これらのものなどは必要ではない。
洗剤とかはあんまり使わない。
- when there is more than one element listed, とか has to be added to each of them, while など is only added to the last one (なんて has the same limitations), and the other elements are listed with や (or sometimes with とか). Adding など to more than one listed element is not allowed.
Examples:
Allowed:
食べ物の中ではイクラや寿司などが好きです
食べ物の中ではイクラとか寿司などが好きです
食べ物の中ではイクラとか寿司とかが好きです
Not allowed:
食べ物の中ではイクラなど寿司などが好きです
When one element is listed those two work basically the same, making the phrase softer (make it a bit uncertain, to sound more humble or simply express that we are actually uncertain about something.)
Examples:
ドミニクって遅いね。
まさか事故にあっていたなんて。。。
まさか事故にあっていたとか。。。
Dominic is late, right?
Whaa, whaat? Maybe he had accident or something…
That is basically it. 
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That’s great! Thanks a lot!
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Does anyone know why I cannot use たり?
E.g
お客きゃくさんが来くるのに、掃除 ** 、料理 ** 、何なにもしていない！
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@bunbunyup Hey! You can use たり (だったり or したり) here. We just were not catching these answers and throwing hints/warnings to try a different grammar point (とか). I have updated the review questions for this grammar point to do so. Thank you for drawing this to our attention. Cheers!
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あの人凄いね。人の顔を見るだけで性格とか分かるって。
That person is amazing. She can determine someone’s personality (among other things) just by looking at their face.
What is the って doing at the end of this sentence? Is it a casual quotation? If so, can you quote a manners in which things are done?
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@deltacat3 Hey! This って is like a combination of the casual quotation って and the hearsay declaration んだって. It might be more accurate to translate this sentence as “I heard that she can determine…” since it is not necessarily a direct quote. Both って and んだって can be used here, but って makes it sound like the speaker heard this information directly from あの人. Cheers!
Edit: I have updated the translation to use “I heard that…”
3 Likes
Hi, is there any differences using や for making non-exhaustive lists instead of とか？
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Tae Kim mentions that とか is a more colloquial version of や.
The BunPro grammar point mentions that とか can be preceded by a verb phrase, whereas や cannot.
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Thank you.
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